This article appeared in Tokyo Weekender Vol. 3.
To read the entire issue, click here.
Marucoporoporo is a singer-songwriter who creates glimmering soundscapes and breathtaking textural melodies from her home in Aichi Prefecture. In May, she released her stunning first album, Conceive the Sea, a fantastically accomplished debut. She recommends five of her favorite albums, exclusively for TW.
Marucoporoporo first appeared on the scene back in 2018 with her EP In Her Dream, a haunting coming-of-age release. Her raw vocals are reminiscent of Bat for Lashes, each husky note organic and emotive, inviting the listener to stop. And think. Now, after a period devoid of new music, Marucoporoporo is back with her debut album.
Conceive the Sea came about after she was invited to create a soundtrack for an exhibition by Nagoya-based painter and filmmaker Nao Taki back in 2022. Following the event, Marucoporoporo created an hour-long performance using the music. This became the impetus for the album, which cycles through birth, life and death.
The opening track is a gloriously washy, ambient trip into the womb of our sea mother, inspired by the ancient ocean and stories about pregnancy; the next track covers our mundane adventures in life — those everyday feelings and activities that make us living beings, just like plants, and even algae. Float down to “Reminiscence,” a song inspired by the image of a horse. This horse gallops, free and wild, until it eventually dies — a fitting closer for an album you’ll want to cycle back to again and again.
Double Happiness by Deux Filles
Deux Filles music somehow sketches what is in their heart, without trying hard to express anything. The environment of the songs leads me to feel like I’m deeply immersed in the spiritual world: The off-time mix of melodies, the odd arrangements make us feel misled, in a good way. It’s addictive.
Luz de la Noche by Florencia Ruiz
When I listen to Florencia Ruiz’s music, I feel like she’s taking me along on a journey to nowhere, like my heart is dancing somewhere unimaginable. In there, overlaid with her singing, I get into a sense of immense safety, like she accepts everything. It feels like her music protects me.
Wandering by Yosi Horikawa
Horikawa also mastered my album, but when I first heard his own music, despite it being from a small iPhone speaker, it was vivid, like a 3D stereo image. It’s super inspiring to me, and has taught me a new perspective on how to enjoy and receive inspiration from the sounds that lurk in everyday life.
More Energy Fields, Current by Carlos Niño & Friends
When I listen to this album, I feel that my body has been left in an expanse of nature and is slowly but surely being separated from my consciousness. I feel a deep peace welling up inside me, of images of the rustling of grass and trees, as though various natural phenomena are being reinvented by each instrument.
Läuten der Seele by Läuten der Seele
I like the feature on Spotify radio where it selects random music, and when Läuten der Seele’s music came on, I was instantly attracted to it. There are so many individual, unique ideas peppered throughout that my heart dances with whatever sound comes next.
Grab Marucoporoporo’s debut album on Bandcamp.
