Youlu Mystique by Masami Makino

The debut release by Tokyo's Masami Makino is a deeply introspective acoustic guitar-led psychedelic excursion.
Based around his mythic invention, the invisible mountain Kalasuyoulu, it traces the perspective of a solitary climber departing from reality and approaching the Absolute, experiencing different landscapes along the way.
Makino manages to convey a wide range of emotion and ambience and an unhurried sense of travel within the album's 27 and a half minute runtime.
Essential listening for admirers of Masaki Batoh's Ghost and the more understated corners of the PSF catalogue.

"For a debut, Youlu Mystique is adrift on timeless signals. Desolation wears countless masks across these acoustic compositions, with Makino’s voice transmitting echoes from an alternate cosmic plane. Intricate melodies flicker out of reach, rising with lithe movements that produce real magic moments. These songs travel a considerable distance in a short space. Shrouded beneath a silver veil, Makino peers outward while weaving sonic tales that pull us in. Plucked arrangements are considered and restrained but still wield a sharp, incisive edge as our reflections manifest back at us in surprising ways. In the end, we succumb to the unrelenting call from the horizon, floating away on melodic waves." - Brad Rose, The Capsule Garden, Foxy Digitalis https://foxydigitalis.zone/2023/03/29/the-capsule-garden-vol-2-11-march-29-2023/

Irish cassette label.
Time Fades Away. Hell Awaits.
They lay back laughing at naivety's star.