- Luxury Water Jewels is the first release on Silver Lake, an offshoot of young London label X-Kalay focussing on "music of a more ambient and leftfield nature." The EP comes from Tokyo's Aquarium and—as the artist name and title suggest—it's suffused with the sounds of water. On ambient opener "Floating," they form a rich, bubbling backdrop that dips in and out of focus, as if you're ducking your head under the surface. Before everything sounds crisp, afterwards muffled and mysterious. On "Swimming," the sounds bounce and trickle over a soothing downtempo beat, while a synth chord glitters like the cascade off the end of an infinity pool. The brief "Planet Aquarium (Outro)" lacks actual water samples, but its pitter-patter arps mimic the soothing asymmetric rhythms of a burbling stream.
The B-side is more robust, though Aquarium remains focussed on delicate texture rather than forward propulsion. "Sandalwood" is a house beat layered with sheets of synth and hissy field recording. It's static but sonically engrossing. On "Water And Sunshine," hand drums keep time over another of Aquarium's trademark rippling chords. The mood is disturbed slightly by the level of distortion: the crinkles in louder moments don't match the blissful mood. But it's a minor flaw on a EP of gorgeous, eardrum-tickling headphone environments.
TracklistA1 Floating
A2 Swimming
A3 Planet Aquarium (Outro)
B1 Sandalwood
B2 Water And Sunshine