Song Recommendation: “Komorebi” by Ai Yamamoto & Dan West (2025)

I remember the exact place I was when I first heard Múm’s bedroom "laptronica" classic “Green Grass of Tunnel,” and while this doesn’t quite reach the heights of that track (and, really, as an icon of whatever this microgenre of gentle bubbly electronica mixed with gentle live instrumentation is*, almost nothing else is close), this delightful tune from Ai Yamamoto & Dan West certainly puts me in that sonic headspace. I’d say it almost sounds like early 2000’s Múm trying to “do a Postal Service,” although this maybe suggests vocalists which is one element this song is missing but doesn’t lack. The bubbling synths and shuffling microbeats carry as much wistful emotion as any soft-sung melody.

*Drop your suggestions to officially name this fun lil turn-of-the-century genre, because "laptronica" is about as dead as JNCO jeans...oh what? Those are back? Ok, nevermind.