Akira Kosemura and Haruka Nakamura - Afterglow 1 September 2007
Akira Kosemura and Haruka Nakamura each have success as solo artists creating mostly instrumental, ambient albums. Kosemura tends to incorporate the piano more into his music, e.g. his albums Polaroid Piano, It’s on Everything, and How My Heart Sings. Nakamura, on the other hand, often features more acoustic guitar, e.g. grace and Twilight. This reflects the respective instruments that they each studied in their childhood. But Kosemura and Nakamura share a talent for mixing their instrumental compositions with ambient electronics, often soft and minimalist, which Afterglow demonstrates nicely. To date it is their only album as a duo; the two perform together for the opening and closing tracks, and divide the remaining eight evenly between themselves. Afterglow may be a perfect find for anyone who wants a relaxing album to leave playing on loop.