For her anticipated follow-up to Windswept Adan (2020), she opens an even wider portal into her mind, exploring the origin of life with dreamy musical vistas. “Luminescent Creatures was born from Windswept Adan,” Ichiko explains. “It began when I started wondering what happened after the protagonist of Windswept Adan disappeared along with the music of the island’s inhabitants. What would be left?”

The sea is immense and ancient, mirroring the harsh conditions that life sprang forth from—but it is also reminiscent, housing a deep record of fossils that once swam through its waters. While visiting Japan’s Ryukyu Archipelago and conducting field research, Ichiko was enamored by the boundless beauty—and occasional terror—of the ocean. As she kept visiting the islands and talking with the local communities over months and years, Ichiko started to notice the shape of coral reefs shifting over time, how they can be affected by the weather, and the way even remote locations can be battered by climate change. She’d go diving with only the breath in her lungs, submitting herself to the whims of the tides. “I feel unable to resist the pull of the ocean,” Ichiko says, “but know how easy it would be for my small body to be swallowed by the sea.” That contradiction, gentleness and power, instilled a sense of awe that is expressed in the soundscapes of Luminescent Creatures.