MAKI: ‘Waking Up With The World On Fire’ – decidedly textural, atmospheric and cerebral

The world is a fragmented place, with fear and hate giving rise to isolationist movements around the globe and huge portions of the population turning inward rather than outward towards each other. As such waves of bigotry spread like wildfire, the music scene becomes extremely important, not just because it means more great music, but because it connects us all together on a wavelength that hits the human heart, soul and mind even harder, faster and deeper than anger can. A creative constant in the field of communicative contemporary Instrumental music, is MAKI who focuses his ample talents on a decidedly textural, atmospheric and cerebral style. Rather than trying to keep up with popular music’s standard structures, this work offers unusual musical values that transcend barriers.

With his new album ‘Waking Up With The World On Fire’, the composer avoids elaborating any one single genre, thus eschewing isolation from another. He abandons any one known human language, using signature voices which MAKI confirms, took him years to refine.

Using bold exotic forms to infuse his music with dramatic monumentality, MAKI captures moments that achieve sublime sonic poetry. With its mesmerizing swirl of pulsing strings, whooshing keys and rumbling percussion the album possesses an impressive sonic sheen, yet it feels pared down to it’s core essentials – tone and texture.

The listener is allowed to wade through an ever-changing musical current, finding emotional resonance in sounds from a subtle palate. But underneath all the blissed out textures is a deep mystical consonance and a practiced sense of composition designed to communicate.

The resulting 7 tracks on the album offers us a mystical bridge between our world and the greater cosmos – as its music, or at least a redeeming impression, will linger on in the listener’s mind. ‘Waking Up With The World On Fire’ is one of those MAKI works that’s projected to augment the space around you or open the space within you, depending on how you choose to listen.

From the moment “Polypropylene” opens the proceedings, this album is truly majestic — grandiose, slowly unfolding, and extremely cinematic, like the soundtrack to an epic film. It conjures up images of deep space, the regions between the galaxies, where no matter exist, while “Nylon” brings to mind the distant nebulas where stars are born.

At times, it is very easy to get lost in the sheer sound, the isolating sense of it all, on “Xylene” for example. In those moments, this album truly is like floating in a void. And perhaps MAKI is hinting at the universe inside us, the microcosm that exists inside of us. And in that respect, ‘Waking Up With The World On Fire’ takes on a profound spiritual sense.

I experienced the last three songs, “Acrylic”, “Methylene” and “Zephylin” in a dark room with some incense burning and my stereo at just the right volume. Being perfectly relaxed I went on the 3-track journey of sound with an open mind and plenty of excitement building inside of me.

It really hooked me mentally, spiritually and musically and the album has since become a true favorite. Dark yet textured, effortless yet so full of tones, this album possesses sounds and voices that can indeed carry you to places you have never been. Haunting and beautiful, MAKI, with this album has certainly made his mark in recorded music – specifically in the Darkwave, Ambient and Experimental genres.

This is a sonic journey to the true depths of the inner space that flows through each one of us, making you not a passive listener, but an integral and active part of the music. Published and distributed by the Natalis Group, ‘Waking Up With The World On Fire’ signals another bold step forward for independent music.