Black Rain

Personnel: Bea (vocals); Takahiro Kido (guitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano, organ, glockenspiel); Mio (harp); Junko Tabira (violin); Utaka Fujiwara (viola, Wurlitzer piano); Yuki Murata (pipe, piano, organ, synthesizer); Takahiro Matsue (tenor saxophone); Tadashi Yoshikawa (drums, percussion, Theremin).
Audio Mixers: Takahiro Kido; Yuki Murata.
Illustrator: Yoko Shinto.
If you're looking for a pleasant diversion, look elsewhere -- this album was written by the Japanese quintet Anoice in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident that devastated parts of coastal Japan in March of 2011. Presented as "both a reflection on disaster and a prayer for healing," Black Rain is quiet but intense, and while it is remarkably beautiful it's also poignant to the point of heartbreak. This group plays mostly acoustic instruments (piano, cello, viola, percussion, guitar) but also incorporates synthesizers and what sound like occasional samples into its compositions. At times those compositions are deceptively simple-sounding, and sometimes (as on the quiet and lovely "Ripple") they are genuinely simple. But they effectively convey a sense of both loss and hope, of contemplation and occasionally anger. The first eight tracks on the program build up to the appropriately titled ninth track, "Finale," which is sonically big without quite lapsing into bombast, and emotionally powerful without lapsing into bathos. The album then ends with "Fall Asleep," a piece of nearly subliminal quietness and gentle beauty. Crisis often produces art, but not very often does it result in art this engaging. ~ Rick Anderson