Next on Dome of Doom is Komorebi, the debut album from ambient and electronic group Context Chameleon.

Context Chameleon is headed up by Erik Otis, a semi-frequent XLR8R contributor. The album is centered on Otis’ experimental synth work, but he’s joined across the release by Jonah Levine (trombone), Demon Slayer (turntables), Tomoki Sanders (drums and saxophone), and Gnome Beats (guitar).

Sanders recorded his parts in Japan while the rest of the group completed their sessions across three separate studios in the heart of Los Angeles over recent months. Because of this, the album is a “tethered time capsule fuelled through communication between the musicians,” and it captures the energy of the social unrest present across the world and the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. We’re told that the recordings represent a “moment of collective healing for the various musicians involved.”

The album’s title is Japanese and means “sunlight filtering through trees,” which is also shown on the album artwork, shot by Otis at Ted Craig Regional Park in 2015. The Fullerton, California park is a stone’s throw away from the apartment where over one hundred Context Chameleon songs were performed and captured digitally, including the Moog sequences found across Komorebi.

The photo is symbolic of the group’s tonal direction and serves as a “building block to many recordings that would come during this phase and those that continue to build in our library,” Otis tells XLR8R.

Otis continues: “Komorebi is representative of the beauty of my life partner, our son, the creators in Context Chameleon that occupy creative spaces with me, my family, and all those who have remained close sources for wisdom over the years. It’s the light we are shining through the thick canopy of life’s path.”

Over the last two decades, every member of Context Chameleon has been a part of local, national, and international fights for justice, equality, and peace, and this musical project will also serve as a vehicle for this energy. For the first year, all digital streaming and download proceeds from Komorebi will be donated evenly to the Elijah McClain Fundraiser, Black Lives Matter, Free Mumia, The World Stage, and Save The Music.

Wylie Cable handled the album’s mixing and mastering.

Tracklisting

01. Intro (Awakenings & Rebirth)
02. The Syntax of Color
03. The Hunter & The Hunted
04. Invalid Codes
05. Repletion ft. Gnome Beats
06. The Corrupted Cauldron ft. Demon Slayer
07. Instinctive Growth
08. Komorebi ft. Tomoki Sanders
09. Paint & Brushes ft. Jonah Levine
10. Solar Wind
11. Outro (828)

Komorebi LP is available on August 28. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream the title-track featuring Tomoki Sanders below.