Here are some of my favourite ways to use my five senses:

• Sight: watching the different shades of green that appear when looking up through the leaves of a tree
• Sound: listening to the sizzle of water sprinkled onto a hot frying pan
• Taste: anything that combines sweet and salty
• Touch: squeezing memory foam
• Smell: breathing in while opening books from my grandparents’ house

And, as a bonus, some highly recommended multi-sensory experiences:

• The feel / sound / sight for folding a sheet of crisp paper precisely in half
• The sight / smell / sound of milk being stirred into coffee
• The sight / feel / smell / sound of campfire. (Plus taste if marshmallows are involved)

I think that Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada) named this song, the title track from his 2006 record Sensuous, not for that word’s association with sexuality, but rather because it’s the perfect word to describe his music.

Oyamada’s music feels like it was made with the express purpose of activating the listener’s senses. Listen to the opening moments of 1997’s “Mic Check” and it becomes clear: not only does Cornelius have the obvious musician’s obsession with sound, but he chooses sounds that have associations with other senses, sounds that crackle with touch and Smell and Sight and taste.

Some of his stuff strays a bit too far for my mainstream brain, but this song strikes the perfect balance of melody and mystery.

What makes this a beautiful song:

1. The bell tree in the opening seconds. Smells like pine needles.

2. The guitars, panned hard left and right. Looks like kids throwing a ball back and forth.

3. At the end, a guitar string is loosened until it can’t even play a recognizable note. It tastes like taffy, stretched out until it sags dangerously low.

Recommended listening activity:

Testing out really expensive headphones.

Buy it here.

The post Week 640: “Sensuous” by Cornelius appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week.