Almost Transparent Blue

Almost Transparent Blue was formed in 1999 in Vancouver. Masa J. Anzai (alto saxophone, electronics), Kelly Churko (guitar, electronics), and Skye Brooks (drums) had all played together in various Vancouver-based groups for several years but wanted to play more challenging repertoire that combined group improvisation with the freedom to express individual compositional influences in a unified setting. The group takes its name from the award-winning novel by Murakami Ryu about the alternative lifestyles of some Japanese youths. The music is surely the companion soundtrack to the book - full of heavy, rhythmic syncopations and beautiful melodic soundscapes wrapped in a hallucinogenic blanket of electronic effects and exotic percussion.