Blue = ブルー・碧い海のイマージュ

Obscure art can be engaging for a variety of reasons. It’s exciting to peer into a world you’ve never considered, unraveling an interesting story over time as you learn more about it. There’s a certain appeal, too, to something that it feels impossible to know anything about. Image of the Blue Sea feels like an object plucked out of time and divorced from context, which has only deepened my love for it. The liner notes credit only a mysterious “S. Kino” as the person behind the “Blue” moniker, a handle so vague it could refer to a hundred thousand people. There’s no indication of a publication date, though it’s probably somewhere around the mid ‘90s. Not much to say about the “Blue Lounge” imprint that put it out, either; this seems to be the only release on it. The music speaks for itself, though—a collection of lovely environmental music interspersed with field recordings of ocean sounds and marine life. Even if you don’t know where it’s from, it’s still taking you somewhere nice.