At Her Open Door lands his new album on Chinabot

Tokyo-based producer Taiki Kobayashi has released a new album under the moniker At Her Open Door — his experimental music project from 2007. Titled ‘FLIR’, the album sees the artist explore the sonic realms of dubstep, traditional Chinese instrumentation and progressive rock (among others) within its compositions. The release came out just yesterday, October 5, via Chinabot.

What exactly does ‘FLIR’ convey? “'FLIR' is an acronym for ‘forward-looking infrared’ and is intended to mean the result of detecting something hot,” says Kobayashi, explaining his exploratory musical process for this particular release.

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At Her Open Door pours this vision of his into the album, as can be heard in tracks like ‘CINA’ that blends up a melody reminiscent of an 80s sci-fi soundtrack with Chinese instrumentation and wobble bass.

Kobayashi, who was once a member of progressive rock and hardcore bands, describes his work as “A fusion of Asian traditional instruments and 80s synths for a modern approach.” He also adds how “In composing the songs, I have been focused on reproducing and shaping the sound that I want to hear now.”

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The At Her Open Door artist has also been inspired by Depeche Mode and Yellow Magic Orchestra; “What I valued in creating FLIR was the fusion of the esoteric and aggressive atmosphere of that music with the 80s romanticism that I have explored in the past,” he says.

Purchase At Her Open Door ‘FLIR’ in digital and tape formats here.

Adrianna Cheung is Mixmag Asia’s Culture Curator, follow her on Instagram.