Kentaro Togawa, guitarist & aural snake charmer, weaves ten mysterious, fragile, yet ever spiraling webs of sound, with his axe providing a layered, powerful, even moving set of densely composed pieces. He?s joined on several tracks by the likes of Si Begg, Maps and diagrams, and Headphone Science, who provide remixes that further extend the tracks? possibilities.

?The Distress? and ?The Lonely Shy Boys Fly to Sky Again and Again? are the best vehicles for the kind of dense fretwork I?m talking about, though the remixes, esp. Begg on ?The First Step to End the Life? and Headphone Science?s remix of ?The Longing Song.? Begg in particular adds a freewheeling sense of fun to the density or sound; HS?s remix is almost Celtic in its exuberance, which fits the overall mystery of the track.

In other tracks like ?The Dread? and ?The Story of a Girl Who Is Socially Ostracized,? Togawa adds some bite to his lines, which give the songs a cranky post-rock feel.

Majestic and willing to play with his own majesty, Togawa and his band have another memorable and at times awesome release to lay in wait until someone finds it and is changed by it. 8/10 -- Mike Wood (10 April, 2007)