Beach Sloth

Hakobune - All The Other Hearts I Knew 7.1

                Hakobune is a steady stream of calming sounds. This is the sound of hearing nature from far away. At times it feels more enormous than Hakobune can possibly convey. Much of the design feels cavernous in nature, like the sound is about to submerge underground forever. Indeed this is good drone, the kind that helps one relax through the day. Traces of melodies can be felt throughout the album but they are nearly lost in the giant slabs of sound. 

                It all melts together. Everything here is a unified front. Calm takes over and expands into eternity. Listening to the album it becomes rather difficult to pinpoint where one track ends and the other begins. This is part of its charm. Since the whole thing is such a singular vision it remains impossible to pick out a specific ‘best track’ or moment. Rather the pieces evolve emotionally rather than in a more traditional rhythmic manner. However the album does appear to move from a calm beginning to an almost tragic end. 

The end of the album offers up two separate ‘part twos’. ‘All The Other Hearts I Knew Part Two’ lifts some of the fog that engrossed the first half. However the true ‘gut’ of the entire album is ‘Blackland Prairie Part Two’. Right at the end it floats away so gracefully it is an absolutely beautiful moment. While it is far away it reminds one of seeing a season die off as a new one emerges. Yes it is slow but the slowness has a purpose.