Even the casual viewer will understand at the three-minute mark in this live performance video, if not far sooner, that automation has an invisible hand in what’s going on, that in addition to the two visible human hands, which belong to Haik, a musician based in Japan, there are sequences of notes being set in motion. That automation allows the hands to do other things, like tweak settings, or adjust the neighboring reverb pedal to lend a sense of space far out of scale with the modest footprint of the equipment. The keyboard displays admirable range and depth, slowly building contrasting components: rich drones, melting sing-song, lofi lush textures.
I also wanted to mention that I’ve come to enjoy the overhead view employed in this video, and on much of YouTube, or at least music YouTube, including the piece I wrote about here yesterday (“Pop Ambient from Aldo”). The lack of motion keeps a sense of intimacy at bay, but the setup does provide an idealized musician’s-eye-view of the goings-on.
This is the latest video I’ve added to my YouTube playlist of recommended live performances of ambient music. Video originally posted to Haik’s YouTube channel. More from Haik at instagram.com/haikmusic_.