青木ヶ原, 樹海
Asphodel
LP (Distributed Item)

Cover photo by Tarrl Lightowler
Design by Matthew Swiezynski
Jackets matte with a debossed frame, cover art  tipped-in
Regular weight red & black marbled vinyl
Copies sold to Turkish distributors have an informative sticker

Price: ₤16.99 (+shipping / packaging)

To order, please send an email to atayilgun@gmail.com.

“In this world
we walk on the roof of hell,
gazing at flowers.”

— Kobayashi Issa

‘Aokigahara, The Black Sea of Trees’ is an abstract visual and sonic story-telling which takes place in a forest located in Mount Fuji, Japan. The Forest of Aokigahara has a worldwide fame for being the home for thousands of suicides and has an almost mythological status. In 2004, the government stopped publishing the statistics of deaths to reduce the popularity of it.

The forest is filled with ephemera and items such as photographs, letters, and instruments left behind by the departing ones. All are untouched due to respect. The almost entire forest is covered with long ribbons. They were meant to be used if they’d decided to return. Therefore, the whole land is embodied in the indirect objects that depict a sense of memory, loss and hope.

The auditory side of this album can be related to the musical genres such as ambient and drone, but also of importance regarding the film and film abstraction. Experiencing the light while moving in time, as in the work of Stan Brakhage. An aural storytelling which derives from the contrast between dark and intense sounds to more delicate and auditory landscapes, where the sense of an intrinsic lament is always present, and stepping into an oblivion gets distilled into a pure sensation, that of life and hope. An emphasis on the romance of a life relived through the forest on one magical night is always apparent.

Our endless gratitude goes to Matthew Swiezynski for initiating the idea of reissuing it on the LP format which, to us, is the ultimate format for this piece of music. Also, Chi, for her help during preparation and Efsun Ecem Üçkardeş on the editing of all literary content.

Lastly and most importantly, every single one who appreciated and dedicated their time into what we did in our eyrie-like studio and each supporter of the Kickstarter campaign for making all this possible.

Much light.