Tetsuya Nakamura 'Arc Of Doves' - Never Let Me Go

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Arc Of Doves ‘Never Let Me Go’

 

Link: https://rohsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/never-let-me-go

 

I first discovered Arc of Doves thanks to the inclusion of their song “I Remember When” on the ambient/experimental/electronic compilation Air Texture Vol 1. Hailing from Japan, Arc of Doves is a duo comprised of Tetsuya Nakamura and AFULL Kobayashi. Their sound falls into the spaces between the aforementioned genres, as well as “modern classical” (yes, that’s a thing), and down-tempo, and many of their songs are gorgeous beyond belief—like so beautiful that you can’t even put it into words.

 

 Strangely enough, it’s an Italian Berlin based record label, Rohs! Records, that just released the Arc of Doves’ EP, Never Let Me Go. Originally self released digitally by the band, last year via their now defunct Bandcamp page, it has now been reissued

 

Never Let Me Go, for the most part, sticks to what the duo do best—skittering beats, powerful piano work, and atmospheric background effects. Out of the six racks on the EP, only one is a bit of a clunker—the 8+ minute “Song of Praise.” Made up of various synthesizer tones and drones, the flaw is that it never really goes anywhere. It also occurs early on (the second track) but thankfully the next four songs allow recovery.

 

The title track, “Garden in The Rain,” and “Night Lights” are the strongest of the set, and the closing track, “Winter Lights” dips into the same somber, plaintive territory as “I Remember When.”