REITEN 0.006 by Kosei Fukuda

The sixth record on Kosei Fukuda’s imprint Reiten is a three tracker featuring the label’s boss original piece ‘Sky Clair’ and two reworks on the B side. The point of departure is a fast paced techno cut scaffolded around a deceptively delicate piano melody. It conjurs up a feeling of gliding speedily over a glaciated desolate landscape. If this association defines the atmosphere of side A, then the flip side represents quite different feelings of being gradually submerged, or going beyond the surface in a decidedly warmer and more ‘aquatic’ environ. First, Claudio PRC Deep Mix slows down the tempo to a dub techno velocity and as the name rightly suggests it explores more immersive and ‘bubbly’ sonic palette. There is something gently hypnotic to this track, making it an unlikely positive alter ego of the title composition. You wish that the catchy loop and perfectly designed rhythmic train never stop, as they resist the temptation of any pop oriented elaboration of the melody and stay at the half-conscious hypnagogic level of perception. The third and final track – the Uchi Remix – is a serene beatless ambient track, one that evokes a slow-motion under-water gravitation towards the bottom of an ocean. Or maybe it’s a musical image of being lost in a fog on a treeless field? Imaginative options are as open as the song’s structure. A piano motif appears here again, yet in a stretched out mode, surrounded by cinematic backgrounds and distant echoes of unreachable sounds. All this makes the record a remarkably versatile EP, one that operates equally well at different mood registers and correspondingly different bpm values. What’s constant is that minimalistically yet effectively conveyed sense of mystery so typical of Reiten releases.


Dominik Bartmanski
Berlin, December 2019