I must admit, this record sort of stumped me when I was trying to decide how to start this column.

Coming in hot out of Berlin, Mitsune is a fascinating group built around the shamisen-slinging trio of Shiomi Kawaguchi, Tina Kopp, and Youka Snell, and anchored by Petros Tzekos on percussion and Noriko Okamoto on double bass. Their music is thrilling and intriguing, a combination of traditional, ritualistic Japanese sounds dipped in Western psychedelia, with a dash of that cosmic high-desert feel. The meeting of these sounds, the airy, elegant shamisen with the sensibility of the wide-open, the unknowable, the endless sky above, is a heady mixture for sure.

While the roots of the music here are steeped in Japanese culture, Mitsune deftly swirls in some psychedelic rock, primordial vocal chants, and irresistible grooves, with a nice round low end courtesy of an augmented rhythm section and a cadre of guest musicians filling out their sound with instruments like the shinobue, ney, banjo, qanun, and cello). There’s even the tiniest pinch of some country-western type noise here, loping along through canyons and valleys before hitting stride with a pulsing, relentless energy.

The blending of culture, genre, sound, etc. is reflective of the band members themselves. Hailing from all over the world (see more in the Bandcamp description for this record), the different perspectives and lived experiences naturally inform their songwriting, giving the album a free-flowing vibe that meanders through reflective passages of quiet beauty as often as driving sections of haunting mysticism. Combined with a strong visual element in their live performances, Mitsune is truly a sight and sound to behold, and I hope to catch them in person one of these days.

As usual, you should really sit with this record and listen straight through in one go. That said, this is one album that offers something new on each listen. Certain aspects of a song will stick out more depending on the weather, your mood, whatever you last listened to, etc. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, art of the highest order. I can’t wait to see where Mitsune goes from here.