Foggy Notion: Maya Ongaku

Maya Ongaku hails from the coastal communities around Enoshima, a small island 50 km southwest of Tokyo, and is a motley collective of local musicians whose earthy psychedelia extends far beyond the roots of their soul.

The name is not derived from any ancient civilization, but is rather a neologism denoting the imaginary view outside one's own field of vision. The band - currently a trio consisting of Tsutomu Sonoda, Ryota Takano and Shoei Ikeda - finds refuge in the Ace General Store, a beachy vintage store and salon-like space out of sight from bustling, touristy Subana Street on the riverbank.

Between chatting about music and art, curating the vinyl section, manning the till and chatting with locals young and old, the members find time to jam and record their spontaneous ideas in the studio at the back. It is in this unlikely environment that Maya Ongaku has its origins, the culmination of what Sonoda refers to as 自然発生 (shizen hassei), meaning spontaneous generation or the supposed creation of living organisms of non-living matter.