Everyone has their own ways of coping with heavy personal events. Mizuhiro's first cat Boo died when he was sixteen, a considerably old age for such an animal, but after losing his pet, Mizuhiro got himself a new one, Hanakichi, who would sadly pass away just one year later. This seems to have left such a huge mark on the owner that he decided to take the alias of 25000 Kittens to release a project with two songs dedicated to his beloved friends.
In many ways, 25000 Kittens is a really bittersweet collection of songs. The two tracks take their time to develop a huge construction of ambient that wonders in the valley of tranquility. Slowly, but effectively, elements are added, with layers of details and novelties that end up showing how much of a tribute this serves. Sure, the sounds of cats that can be heard on the background give it away in so many ways, but even with that there is so much going on, so many things put into play and used in the most honest and emotional way possible, to the extent that there are a lot of details that can be interpreted in many ways. The echoes of cats, the sounds of water, the small drone elements that add to the relaxed building of atmosphere, the music box that starts the first song on a somewhat upbeat and nostalgic way but that appears yet again right when everything is about to the end, after a beautiful build up, to suddenly play the nostalgic music slowly fading away, as if it were a life calmly coming to an end. Everything may or may not have a reason to be, but the only thing we know for certain is that all those elements are there, and that is just wonderful.
The two tracks make up some of the most calm and emotional pieces of music that I have ever heard, but they are not so in a conventional way. Nothing is really said, there are no words or even a consistent focus on any particular element that make up for a clear message. Instead, everything is rather symbolic, almost borderline cryptic, with the details being curiously implemented in the atmosphere and making up for tracks that almost feel as if they started and faded away on an unexpected manner. But the fact that it doesn't convey what is trying to be represented on a clear way makes up for an experience that is surprisingly more effective, since everything that is going on is still felt as something deeply personal, a tribute to old emotions and memories that were once there but that now seem to be gone to a place that can't be understood.
This project isn't meant to be universally appealing. It is evident that the main focus isn't the music, the length, or the way everything is executed. Even within the realm of ambient, the way the project is presented is simply something that comes from a very special place, and that ends up with somewhat unconvetional results. It may connect with some more than others, but it is certain that something above all things technical or proper in the world of music is going on here, and that the emotions, the melancholy really, that are trying to be conveyed are just deeply human, and easy to empathize with. Everything that is presented has a meaning, even the cover itself, presenting someone who is happy while he is surrounded by a lot of kittens. These tracks are memorable in the sense that, even without any words, without any conventional rhythm structure, there is a big feeling of emptiness and sadness going around.
It is love and passion, deep emotions and nostalgia, but it is also loneliness in the pain of remembering what once was alive and brought us joy.
And maybe the details are there to symbolize a lot of things of life and death, fading memories of an already lost friend, or maybe they represent bittersweet nostalgia for what their pets meant to the daily life of Mizuhiro, who maybe felt the presence of those two animals conveying the love, hope and joy of 25000 kittens. The only person that knows about all of this is the man who loved his cats so much that he offered them a tribute to their memory in the form of two haunting and comforting compositions.
Living beings are only really dead once they are forgotten, and there is no doubt that Boo and Hanakichi's memory is eternal thanks to this project. In the end, we can only hope that wherever Boo and Hanakichi ended up heading is as beautiful as the soundscapes that were offered to them.
Overall Rating: 8/10
