Kyoto in Heavy Rain — Night to Dawn, 4 Hours

Four hours long and shot in one continuous night, which is rare for this format — most city walks run forty minutes and stop. It moves from the downtown covered arcades, where the rain becomes a roar on the roof panels overhead, out into Higashiyama, where the same rain lands on stone and temple wood and turns almost soft. That contrast between covered and open is the most interesting thing in it.

Kyoto in rain is a well-worn subject and usually an over-scored one, with shakuhachi laid over the top and the weather pushed into the background. There is none of that here. It is the wettest recording in this catalog and probably the best single argument for the city walks as sleep audio rather than just atmosphere. The Shibuya walk is its opposite number: same country, all neon and crowds.