ai aso Chamomile Pool (Jap CD, £33.50)

New album by Japanese folk artist Ai Aso. A wonderful blend of folk, psychedelic pop, that charming sort of Japanese twee, and a little bit of heavy rock. Featuring You Ishihara, Michio Kurihara (Ghost, Stars, Daemon & Naomi), Rituko Sakata and Sintarou Sakamoto. "If Boris and Michio Kurihara's Rainbow (2007) was the storm's immediate wake, its beatitude still charged with the tearing of light passing through drenched air, Boris-affiliated and Michio-married Ai Aso's Chamomile Pool is the even more serene denouement, where the rain waters have come together to rest, where the rainbow lands on some hidden horizon point and drowns in the clouds' remains with only us listeners as witnesses. Which is probably a too florid way of saying that Rainbow and Chamomile Pool make for a damn fine double feature". -Chet Betz, Cokemachineglow.