From Riga to Tokyo: Radio Tīrkultūra co-founder Reinis Semēvics, also known as R_R_, releases Layers of a Stream, a gorgeous new ambient tape on Kankyō Records.
Layers of a Stream is a new album full of ambient soundscapes by Latvian producer R_R_. Introduced to us as a member of our COSMOS Embassy ICRN, Reinis Semēvics and Tīrkultūra have been frequent guests at Le Guess Who? and a staple of the wider COSMOS network.
From Kankyō Records:
"Layers of a Stream is a work by Latvian composer and sound artist Reinis Semēvics, under his project R_R_. Like tracing the course of an underground water vein, the piece unfolds as a gentle, evolving soundscape, where landscapes and textures shift gradually, revealing a quiet and refined beauty.
Created during a residency in the summer of 2025 in the mountains of Umbria, Italy—within a valley at an elevation of 500 meters—the album listens closely to the subtle rhythms embedded in nature. It is constructed as if observing the many expressions of a flowing stream and the layering of its currents. Thoughts, ideas, and sensations emerge from unknown sources, converge, and diverge again, slowly woven together in resonance with the sound.
Echoes of Japanese environmental music—such as Hiroshi Yoshimura and Satoshi Ashikawa—merge with the minimalism of Brian Eno and Harold Budd. At the same time, the contemplative stillness found in land art and Mono-ha [an art movement led by 20th-century Japanese and Korean artists] resonates throughout, pointing toward a way of sound that is shaped organically within space and time.
The album opens with a deep, resonant horn—suggestive of the beginning of life—gradually dissolving into soft electronic tones that blur the contours of time. Subsequent pieces introduce a transparent, spring-like atmosphere, where drones glide across the surface like water and light melodies intersect with quiet delicacy. Fragile, wavering phrases, rain-like micro-beats, and mist-covered sonic imagery accumulate, guiding the music into a more introspective depth.
In its final moments—shifting from dusk into night—the organic textures gently lead the listener toward a state of rest. Rounded rhythms pulse softly before dissolving back into silence. A delicate and poetic ambient work that invites the listener to surrender to the cycles of nature and the flow of time."
