Local Review: Aurune – 柳の妻 Willow Wife (A Japanese Folktale of Love)

Aurune
柳の妻 Willow Wife (A Japanese Folktale of Love)

Self-Released
Street: 06.05
Aurune = Gold Panda + GREAF + Baths

Salt Lake City producer and musician Aurune is back with another introspective down,tempo electronic work. 柳の妻 Willow Wife (A Japanese Folktale of Love) is paired with a Japanese love story, which accompanies the album on Aurune’s bandcamp page. In the story, a young man named Hiroshi falls in love with a willow tree outside his house. The story tells of how he doted on the tree, saying, “Each morning when Hiroshi woke, he looked out his window and sighed with pleasure at the sight of the tree waving in the wind, proud and sturdy in the rain, exquisite in the sunshine.” Hiroshi falls in love with the tree, who appears to him in human form, only to lose her one day as the tree gets chopped down.

Like most of Aurune’s other work, Willow Wife is relaxing. Nothing gets too crazy in each track, but there is a general sense of forward momentum nonetheless. Aurune uses alluring instruments and simple beats that vary throughout the song just enough to remain interesting. He incorporates beautiful synth strings and simple melodies to carry the listener through the journey of falling in love, accepting fate and looking back. With the knowledge of what this album is about, the listener can sit back and take a musical journey.

柳の妻 Willow Wife (A Japanese Folktale of Love), like the story, follows both the beauty and pain of heartbreak. Aurune’s introspection and ability to follow a theme makes each and every album sound different.  The act of seeking answers through art and finding the ability to express oneself with music is something that he does incredibly well. Not only do we get to look at our own humanity through the telling of a story, but we also get a glimpse into the artist and the questions they are asking. Find the album on aurune.bandcamp.com. –Taylor Hartmana