Shunkan - Honey, Milk And Blood

New Zealander Marina Sakimoto takes her Shunkan name from an unfortunate tale of Japanese mythology. To cut a long story short, the subject of the tale took his own life through starvation, after being left alone on an island through punishment. Loneliness is the central character in Sakimoto’s first work. It’s not a hindrance, though.

‘Honey, Milk and Blood’ leaves her companionless. It’s an EP without percussion, and there isn’t a single backing musician in sight. Showing no fear, instead of dying starved Shunkan finds inspiration in unlikely sources. Opener ‘Dust In Your Eyes’ seems to travel through a hundred shades of guitar expression in the space of one song. Through a single distortion pedal, Sakimoto manages to stampede and crunch her way past deceiving emotions. Instrumental it might be, but ‘Hail’ is the centrepiece. It masters the Kevin Shields shoegaze staple like nobody else, and confirms Shunkan to be a genuine one off. That might leave her feeling alone in this mad world, but if isolation channels into music like this, she ought to keep going.