Setsubun (節分), came out in February, and the spring release,
Yamawarau (山笑う), arrived May 7. All three albums are credited to Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi, but in a Cached newsletter announcing
Yamawarau, Sage proposed an alternative: fans could refer to the group as Fuubutsushi, a Japanese word that more or less means evoking nostalgia for a season, like cherry blossoms in spring. It s a fitting term for a group whose music echoes the subtle shifts of natural processes. On the
Yamawarau track Kodama, Shiroishi s soft, seraphic singing seems to summon a gradually intensifying instrumental interplay gently arpeggiating guitars, pitter-pattering percussion, duvet-plush horns and violins that s suggestive of a field of lilies coming into bloom.