Released through his regular home of Dial Records, the album was started in Efdemin’s home of Berlin but went on to take a more Japanese tone when Efdemin relocated to Kyoto as part of a three-month artist residency in the city. Speaking to Resident Advisor this morning, Efdemin claims that “it helped me focus and work pretty fast on the material I had recorded in Berlin.”
“Kyoto is a very powerful, calm and healthy place”, he explains. “We stayed in a nice studio-apartment next to the river, surrounded by the blue mountains you see on the album cover (a picture I took from the bridge in front of our house). Nearly every day we took walks in the city or to one of the temples nearby, studying Japan’s culture, religion and cuisine. I did a lot of research on Japanese instruments and visited bell collectors or flute makers with the help of the institute.”