maya ongaku is a pure vibes group if ever there was one. Their Sunday night Orange Echo set started with bird sounds and a simple rhythm machine beat. As the members slowly layered on dreamy reverb heavy guitar, fluttering flute and flute-y synth topped with simple, understated vocals it became clear what these guys were here to do: open our eyes to the illusion that obscures true reality. That’s probably the maya they are referring to, right?

Throw in some butter-smooth sax, sounding like it should be coming from below a streetlight and above a steam grate, and a smoke machine turned to pea soup and the vibes just got thicker and thicker. These Enoshima boys know how to chill.

The parts that stood out the most were the forays into and out of minimalist rumbling synth, which contrasted the slightly dreamy crystal shop pan-pipe feel they otherwise defaulted to nicely. This is how they effectively made journeys out of their songs.

Being able to toe the line between experimental low-key psychedelic and new age meditation BGM is a tricky task, but maya ongaku was able to pull it off. Perhaps it was the overpowering earnestness that helped keep things from coming across as silly, or perhaps it was the darkness creeping in from the periphery. However they did it, they did it well.

If a little cosmic transportation was on your Sunday night to-do list, you could have done a whole lot worse than maya ongaku’s wild trip of a set.

Just remember, kids… attachment leads to suffering and don’t forget to part those veils of maya before you go!