why we love this

A set of questions posed to a sequencer in an attempt to decipher signals and instructions for crossing unfamiliar terrain. Jason Kòlar presents sensory field notes that sketch broad impressions through sparse, rhythmically curious patterns.

about the cassette

A Synonym for Repetition weaves together a tapestry of parallels, all intricately linked to Japan. The project begins with a collaboration with a Tokyo-based musician, which ultimately fails to materialize.

From an original approach that had to mutate in its starting phase, the record was conceived from the outset to embody a sincere homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, also a Tokyo native. Shaping ideas within the context of a city with a vibrant soundscape, the project explores where tradition and modernity intersect in an ongoing quest for correspondences.

Yet, the barriers of language and cultural disparity emerge, casting a veil over the perceived connections and turning them into projections rather than reality. This dynamic shapes the space from an external perspective, always distant from true understanding, framing it within the realms of imagination—both Japan and Sakamoto. Nonetheless, Jason Kòlar tries to pay an honest ode to the artist and his cultural context, acknowledging the complexities and contradictions of this process, even at the risk of falling into clichés, pastiches, and Eurocentric bias.

Connecting it to ‘vertical listening’ rather than to an obvious tribute exercise, he morphs his sound to a synthetic and MIDI approach, aiming to set an ironically fictitious stage—one that resembles something, but isn’t truly it.