Gagarin – Komorebi
Ambient/ soundworld/ electronica artist Gagarin (the solo moniker of veteran music experimentalist Graham "Dids" Dowdall) has, with Komorebi (the Japanese word for how sunlight is both seen and felt through leaves and branches), presented an intriguing and highly impressive album of ambient, electronic light and cooler (at times eerie) shade.
It is also, sadly, his final work.
Only two months after the release of Komorebi (released on the 63rd anniversary of Uri Gagarin being the first man in space) Dowdall (Nico, John Cale, Manchester cult band Ludus, latterly of "avant-garage" band Pere Ubu, to name but four) lost his battle with cancer on the 16th June. He was 69.
But serious illness did not stop him from writing, creating and recording one final work of sonic Gagarin art.
In 2023, the year he was diagnosed with cancer, he was commissioned to create a soundscape for an event on Box Hill in Surrey, as well as a soundtrack for a film about Nico.
Tracks developed for, and from, both those projects, form part of Komorebi, a ten track album with a loose concept of light and shade (themed as much on his own personal light and dark of the last two years as the more natural meaning).
'Margate Illuminati' has that trademark Gagarin stamp of managing to be a little disconcerting within its drumpad rhythms and synth-led ambience, yet still wholly immersive and curiously alluring.
The synth-pop pulse of 'Saeta' (an electronic reworking of Nico’s 1981 single) wears its electronica with ambient elegance while the synth-keys echo of 'Cingulum,' which give way (or rather becomes the background) to an eerier synth world, is more about shade than light.
'Wonderdusk 1' fits its title perfectly; a post-sunset image as seen through leafy foliage and heard through birdsong before the flocks settle in for the night, wrapped in a synth-blanketed, oriental ambience.
'Hazmat' isn’t quite as hazardous as its title suggests, but the flitting between lighter synth/ dance-pop passages and colder synths (backed by a slowly ticking block percussion) certainly hints at danger.
The slightly sci-fi slanted 'PAM 710' slows things down, as does the more relaxed 'Lomea,' which carries subtle rhythmic effects and a deeper drone note within its synth-wash layers.
'Wonderdusk 2' returns to the sonic scene of part one but here at the darkest and coldest part of twilight (including the sound of the wind through the trees); 'Codeswitch' then announces itself as the most disconcerting track of the album, mixing discordant mono-synth notes with industrial electronica.
The delicate soundscape and bird sound of the reflective 'Stanmer' is another with an oriental leaning (within its plucked effect melody), but it may well be inspired by Stanmer Park in Brighton, where parkland, woodland and birdsong abound.
Gagarin’s highly individualistic approach to instrumental electronica can be heard to fine effect on 2017’s Corvid (an initially challenging but satisfying soundworld of ambient, dance music, avant-garde, electronica and field recording) and the more accessible (but still highly nuanced) rhythmic ambience of 2020’s The Great North Wood, which received repeated airplay on several premier radio stations including BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 3.
Komorebi however, stands soundworld proud as one of his best works – the light and shade of the natural world doubled, rather poignantly, as the light and shade of life and death.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Purchase Komorebi and check out other Gagarin releases at: https://gagarin.bandcamp.com/
You can read a recent Q&A interview with Graham "Dids" Dowdell talking about Komorebi at:
https://justlistentothis.co.uk/interviews/gagarin-talks-new-album-hometown-and-more/
It is also, sadly, his final work.
Only two months after the release of Komorebi (released on the 63rd anniversary of Uri Gagarin being the first man in space) Dowdall (Nico, John Cale, Manchester cult band Ludus, latterly of "avant-garage" band Pere Ubu, to name but four) lost his battle with cancer on the 16th June. He was 69.
But serious illness did not stop him from writing, creating and recording one final work of sonic Gagarin art.
In 2023, the year he was diagnosed with cancer, he was commissioned to create a soundscape for an event on Box Hill in Surrey, as well as a soundtrack for a film about Nico.
Tracks developed for, and from, both those projects, form part of Komorebi, a ten track album with a loose concept of light and shade (themed as much on his own personal light and dark of the last two years as the more natural meaning).
'Margate Illuminati' has that trademark Gagarin stamp of managing to be a little disconcerting within its drumpad rhythms and synth-led ambience, yet still wholly immersive and curiously alluring.
The synth-pop pulse of 'Saeta' (an electronic reworking of Nico’s 1981 single) wears its electronica with ambient elegance while the synth-keys echo of 'Cingulum,' which give way (or rather becomes the background) to an eerier synth world, is more about shade than light.
'Wonderdusk 1' fits its title perfectly; a post-sunset image as seen through leafy foliage and heard through birdsong before the flocks settle in for the night, wrapped in a synth-blanketed, oriental ambience.
'Hazmat' isn’t quite as hazardous as its title suggests, but the flitting between lighter synth/ dance-pop passages and colder synths (backed by a slowly ticking block percussion) certainly hints at danger.
The slightly sci-fi slanted 'PAM 710' slows things down, as does the more relaxed 'Lomea,' which carries subtle rhythmic effects and a deeper drone note within its synth-wash layers.
'Wonderdusk 2' returns to the sonic scene of part one but here at the darkest and coldest part of twilight (including the sound of the wind through the trees); 'Codeswitch' then announces itself as the most disconcerting track of the album, mixing discordant mono-synth notes with industrial electronica.
The delicate soundscape and bird sound of the reflective 'Stanmer' is another with an oriental leaning (within its plucked effect melody), but it may well be inspired by Stanmer Park in Brighton, where parkland, woodland and birdsong abound.
Gagarin’s highly individualistic approach to instrumental electronica can be heard to fine effect on 2017’s Corvid (an initially challenging but satisfying soundworld of ambient, dance music, avant-garde, electronica and field recording) and the more accessible (but still highly nuanced) rhythmic ambience of 2020’s The Great North Wood, which received repeated airplay on several premier radio stations including BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 3.
Komorebi however, stands soundworld proud as one of his best works – the light and shade of the natural world doubled, rather poignantly, as the light and shade of life and death.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Purchase Komorebi and check out other Gagarin releases at: https://gagarin.bandcamp.com/
You can read a recent Q&A interview with Graham "Dids" Dowdell talking about Komorebi at:
https://justlistentothis.co.uk/interviews/gagarin-talks-new-album-hometown-and-more/