I've been mesmerized by Ichika Nito's guitar mastery for a long time now. The musical virtuoso has produced a lot of amazing short-form content on his YouTube channel and Instagram page, but has also released official music on streaming platforms. Every now and then he releases a single or an EP, usually polished renditions of popular content or occasionally, refined musical pieces meant to be full songs. His newest EP is a heavenly collection of six ethereal tracks.
Other than the obvious talent he has, both in technique and creativity, I've always found the most astounding thing about his writing is how complete his music feels despite having guitar as the sole instrument. Although he has released music with lo-fi or drum beats before, it's kind of become his signature style to write guitar pieces with no additional instruments, especially percussion. This six-piece record seems to boast either one or two guitar tracks at most, which is impressive for how expressive the music is.
His control over the emotive capacity of the melodies he plays is extreme. Expertly using high and low notes, harmonics and deadnotes to portray a wide range of human emotions, all with such technique and precision that absolutely captivates the listener. Awakening evokes a playful sense of cheerfulness, Nothing is lost has this nostalgic tone to it, and It's Over has this truly monumental sense of finality to it, impassioned and heartfelt.
His writing and playing in this EP is akin to those complex piano pieces, running through a multitude of notes to paint an emotional picture. It's astonishing how much detail and identity he can craft into his music with so little, his guitar seems to be literally fitted with just a simple reverb on a clean tone. Where in his video content, the writings seems to impress more on the technical playing side, this EP really shows his musicianship on the writing side.
I think this EP is just about perfect. Everything from the concise track lengths, spot-on song titles and diverse emotional range to the divine immersive soundscape of the record as a whole, there's really nothing I don't love about this record. Of all the instrumental guitar music out there, from the likes of Polyphia and Animals As Leaders to covet and Plini, I think Ichika Nito and this EP is particular is undoubtedly the most passionate and emotive out there. It comes to show how masterful he is, if he can rival emotional songs that have heartfelt vocals with just one instrument.
Rating: 9/10