KURIHARA, MICHIO - Sunset Notes

Stellar first solo adventure of former White Heaven and Stars lysergic guitar wonder Michio Kurihara. Comprised out of 9 tracks, Kurihara proves that he has more up his sleeve than merely being an extremely gifted guitar wonder. Here, he puts on display his song craftmanship and it surely stunned me. Kurihara sounds utterly mature, well structured and exciting compositions spared from guitar frivolics and instead focusing on the image of the composition. He gets assited by the rhythm section of Yura Yura Teikoku (Shibata Ichiro), Peace Music and Pedal Records spearhead Nakamura Souichiro and Ishihara You and Aso Ai who both breath some songs into being. This album grows on you the more you lend your ear to it and is, according to these humble ears, already one of the top 5 albums for 2005. Ultimate highest recommendation. - Pedal.