青木ヶ原, 樹海 - Aokigahara, The Black Sea of Trees

“Surrounded by beauty, one thinks of life and death and the ephemeral nature of it all; the album’s winds may blow cold, but they whistle words of encouragement.”
Richard Allen , A Closer Listen

Aokigahara, The Black Sea of Trees is an audiovisual work set within the landscape of Aokigahara, a dense forest near Mount Fuji, Japan.

The album draws on the forest's cultural associations with death, memory, isolation, and survival. Its sonic landscape moves between dense, dark textures and quieter passages, combining elements of ambient and drone music with an approach influenced by experimental cinema.

The visual component extends these ideas through abstraction, texture, movement, and light. The relationship between sound and image was informed by traditions of experimental filmmaking, including the work of Stan Brakhage.

Released as CD format at 2012, by Wounded Wolf Press
Released as vinyl format at November 19, 2015 by Invisible Birds

Produced by Atay İlgün & Alper Yıldırım
Mixed by Atay İlgün

Vinyl edition cover photo by Tarrl Lightowler,
design by Matthew Swiezynski
mastered by A.F. Jones

Review of CD edition from A Closer Listen
Review of vinyl edition from A Closer Listen
Review from Santa Sagre

Aokigahara, The Black Sea of Trees

30 min 15 sec
Experimental Film

A half-hour experimental film was developed from the album, translating its sonic environments into an abstract moving-image work.

Exhibited in Nesrin Esirtgen Collection’s event Open Call // Open Door in 2015.