Album photography by Takumi Osera

Style: math rock, instrumental prog, lo-fi, electronica (Mostly instrumental, some clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Polyphia, David Maxim Micic, Covet, Marcin, Anamanaguchi
Release date: 30 Jan 2026

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It’s not exactly a great time to be Ichika Nito right now. The Japanese guitar phenomenon, known for his intricate tapping work and fluid compositions, has gotten into some hot water lately after a rather detailed exposé by Jacobra Records provided evidence that many of his videos were not actually recorded with live audio, but rather mimed along to a prerecorded track. While this is certainly a bad look for him – putting “Live Performance” into the title of a video that doesn’t have its sound recorded live is clearly deceptive and in poor taste – I also can’t fully side with the coalition of betrayed guitar nerds calling for his immediate cancellation. The man’s an undeniably talented composer and producer, and while his credentials as a virtuoso may now be in question, to hinge one’s enjoyment of a piece entirely on whether it was played perfectly in a single take is to view music as more athletics than art. And, indeed, despite its unfortunate timing, Ichika has just released his first proper full-length album, The Moon’s Elbow, giving us a chance to step back from all the drama and review his music on its own merits. It is, like most albums, a product of the studio, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Does it vindicate him as an artist, or has the quality of his music become as suspect as the authenticity of his technical skill?

Interestingly enough given the timing of the controversy, a good chunk of The Moon’s Elbow is marked by a general decentering of virtuosity in favor of emotional, tasteful composition. This can be seen from the very jump in how slowly its first track starts, with the warm, echoing open strings and gentle, lullaby-like solo guitar arrangement of “Where I Begin” fully rejecting high-speed shenanigans in favor of atmospheric tone and tasteful melody. The strings hum with the subtle softness of sunlight slowly spilling into one’s room as dawn breaks after staying up all night – a quiet, isolated sound that is revisited in the likes of “we weren’t, were we?” and companion outro “Where I Return”. It’s not executed perfectly – there was no reason for “Where I Begin” to drag on as long as it does – but the vibe is certainly there. And while these barebones tracks don’t quite make up the bulk of the album, they do serve an important role in cutting to the very emotional core of the album as a whole, laying bare the warm yet distant melancholy that makes Ichika such an engaging composer no matter how fast he’s playing.

Of course, The Moon’s Elbow isn’t all just coffeeshop-ready plucked notes echoing gently into the emotional ether, as is evidenced by the transition from the opener into the hyperactive, drum-and-bass inflected “Lost Stars”. With its explosive flurries of notes and tightly processed guitar tone, it seems to fly in the face of all the slow, tasteful emotionality I just spent a paragraph describing. In fact, much of the album leans on a decidedly artificial, electronic vibe, from the lo-fi beats of “LA NUIT” and “should’ve cried” to the Anamanaguchi-meets-math-rock danceability of “Echo”. Yet in reality, it and the other electronica-forward tracks on the album act as the opposite side of a coin, challenging the concept of “virtuosity” via artifice rather than emotion. By chopping and screwing its guitar and percussion parts around, as well as playing with more processed tones, this side of the album wears its nature as a studio product proudly on its sleeve, to the extent where concerns of “authenticity” feel like a moot point. Much like how the drums in drum and bass aren’t literally played through on a single kit, these tracks almost use Ichika‘s own playing as a sort of sample, reveling in the possibilities of studio editing. One Reddit comment I saw about the drama said he was “just a DJ with inconvenient equipment” – though this was likely meant as an insult, there’s genuine, fascinating artistic potential in the concept of using one’s own guitar work as the base ingredient for feats of electronic alchemy. Aside from the one-off indulgence in Polyphia-core that is “The Itch”, the most energetic tracks here never feel based around the wow factor of “that sounds hard to play”, instead focusing on the sense of electrifying, giddy euphoria that busy compositions can impart, and they’re better off for it.

Indeed, the core sonic thesis of The Moon’s Elbow seems to be one of learning to live with contradiction: of the contrasts between the barebones, soulful “art” of its melodic ballads and the overstuffed, ultra-sleek “artifice” of its electronica influences, and what happens when those two seeming extremes are made to coexist. When executed well enough, this can create some stunning compositions – take the way the title track (featuring similarly-embattled guitarist Marcin) leverages its tappy guitar passages to build yearning, gorgeous melodies, building its dynamics with surging strings and rattling electronic percussion that cover an incredible amount of ground given its three-minute runtime. Others are more mixed – the pair of late album ballads featuring female guest vocalists (“I’m Your Ghost”, “in your quiet”) both feature lovely melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in an anime ED, with the former offering a killer drum-and-bass climax while the latter draws on the dulcet tones of Covet‘s own Yvette Young. Yet while both leverage effective contrasts between moments of organic warmth and processed sheen, said processing leaves the singers feeling a bit too robotic in places. And the less said about the doofy, embarrassing French lo-fi rap misfire that is “LA NUIT”, the better. But overall, across the sizable stylistic shifts shoved into the album’s 34 minutes, the message is clear – no matter how fast or slow the notes are played, no matter if Ichika‘s guitar is unaccompanied or blended into a mountain of electronics, what matters is the expression of the creative mind behind it.

As I write this, Ichika has just released a performance on the channel The First Take, playing through his popular track “I Miss You” in a clear response to the accusations of fakery. It’s a bit messy, for sure, but that messiness carries a powerful emotional core of frustration and vulnerability that contrasts strikingly with the original composition’s detached smoothness. As a live performer, this may signpost a way forward for him to reassert his authenticity, but in terms of composition, The Moon’s Elbow already feels authentic in its own way. It’s an album that feels both heartfelt and mechanical, often at the same time. It’s a diverse record whose more unusual indulgences certainly don’t always pay off, but one that manages a consistent atmosphere of nocturnal melancholy throughout its many distinct styles. If he can get those kinks worked out, there’s serious potential for Ichika to become one of the best crafters of instrumental math-prog out there. Maybe label those studio videos more clearly next time, though.

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Recommended tracks: Lost Stars, Echo, The Moon’s Elbow, in your quiet
You may also like: Challenger Deep, Loam, Waxamillion
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram

Label: zz (hyperlink to Bandcamp or Official Website if no Bandcamp)

Ichika Nito is:
– Ichika Nito (all instruments and production except where otherwise noted)
With guests:
– Nakajin (production on “Echo”)
– NIX (vocals on “LA NUIT”)
– Manuel Gardner Fernandes (guitars on “The Itch”)
– Feryquitous (production on “The Itch”)
– Flower.far (vocals on “I’m Your Ghost”)
– Yvette Young (vocals on “in your quiet”)