Hakuzakusha「白柵舎」(EP)
Haruno Hidaka「日髙晴野」
genre: folk/ singer-songwriter • release date: 2025
healing.
is the primary way i’d describe listening to Hakuzakusha. this small EP (just around 20 minutes) caught me off guard. it was a listening experience that stuck in my mind this week. not only was i excited to come back to Hakuzakusha, but i desperately wanted to take the time to sit with it, to get to know it more, on it’s own terms. Hidaka’s music becomes compelling, not because it is attempting to channel some profound thought or feeling, but because she is making an earnest production. in both its simplicity and its vulnerability does the EP find it’s greatest strength.
what i like most about Hakuzakusha is how small it feels. in its smallness is youth. a youth unburdened by a lifetime of noise and interference. the cover photo shows us a young woman perched in the corner of an old room. giving us the feeling that beyond the scope of this snapshot is a compact production. what matters most in this small corner of world is Hidaka, her one guitar, a microphone and a handful of songs. this small scope lends itself greatly to the feeling of the music. among these songs are the earnest voice of a young woman, and her sure hands plucking away at her guitar. that’s all it needs to be. in the absence of more instruments and production is just that, absence. this absence lets her music breath, to take the time it needs to exist. each breath she takes between words are not meant to be hidden, but felt, a part of the experience. this almost barren composition only uplifts the sincere performance. i find so much to adore in the fragile nature of the production. there is a naked honesty about the whole thing that i can’t help but be endeared to it.
i feel an earthy palette from the music as a whole. Hakuzakusha is a grounded experience, trickled down from above by sprinkles of light guitar picks and strums, almost like a sunshower. there is an immediate magic I felt on first listen of “Umibe no Hakuba 「海辺の白馬」”. the song is the EP’s greatest strength, setting the tone for who Hidaka is, what her music means. as a building cascade of guitar picks up speed, it sweeps up into Hidaka’s voice before she washes the song away. there is an ebb and flow to the song, it builds then floats, then picks up speed again. her chorus maintains a wonderful harmony with her guitar, both pieces pushing and pulling on each other. “Hold me, Hold Time” particularly strikes me. it brings in a much more personal stamp to the EP, a request of mercy and moment away from the rest world. it displays not only her skill in composition, but also in creating intimacy.
Hakuzakusha has been on my mind quite a lot this week. for all its folk dressings, it has sunk much deeper than i would have originally expected it to. when i think about it too hard, i become a bit puzzled as to why this EP sticks with me so much. in the same breath, it’s not really that hard to understand why. the reason is ‘simple’. the work is ‘simple’. and simple is not a curse word, but a blessing word. Hidaka funnels simplicity, honesty, earnestness into her work. it is who she is. the way she sings, wavering, hesitant, determined. the way she plays the guitar, imperfect, delicately, consistently. for this work, simplicity is more than enough. it’s a human piece, a healing piece.
written by
Marcus Landeros
- highlights -
Umibe no Hakuba 「海辺の白馬」
2025-nen 1-gatsu 26-nichi gogo 4-ji heya no kāten o akeru 「2025年1月26日午後4時部屋のカーテンを開ける」 — essentially “Opening the Curtains in My Room at 4 PM on January 26, 2025”
Hold me, Hold time
track list:
Umibe no Hakuba 「海辺の白馬」
2025-nen 1-gatsu 26-nichi gogo 4-ji heya no kāten o akeru 「2025年1月26日午後4時部屋のカーテンを開ける」 — essentially “Opening the Curtains in My Room at 4 PM on January 26, 2025”
Hold me, Hold time
Haru no Karada 「春の身体」
Itsudemo 「いつでも」
