Originally published on First Floor

The Melting Hours first saw the light of day back in September 2025, when Wata Igarashi and synth wizard Kuniyuki were tasked with warming up Draaimolen’s revered Moon stage. The Tilburg festival has proven to be a fertile laboratory for unlikely B2B experiments, as its organizers intentionally bring together artists, often from different musical orbits, and put them in conversation in front of an expectant crowd. Many of those conversations are one-time-only events, but the Japanese duo discovered a genuine sense of synergy, one that they’ve now funneled into their self-titled debut EP. Offering three tracks of immersive, new age-adjacent transcendence, the record opens with “Blue Sun,” its gentle echoes and lush, crystalline synth evoking the freshness of a misty, dewy morning as they drift in a soft, shimmering ambience. “Liquid Dunes” and “Cloud Touch” go a notch deeper; layers of tinkling water and exotic flute stutters enhance the meditative effect of the former, while the latter elevates into a blissful flow state, its sublime, acidic strings twisting over rhythmically chugging drums.