„This album is not the follow-up to Echoes of Silence. It’s its shadow.“

With Absence, I step into a quieter, deeper space.
If Echoes of Silence was about listening, Absence is about falling inward.
It’s no longer about what was said or what could be.
It’s about what never came.
What was missing.
What disappeared.
What only ever lingered at the edges.

This work is raw: but never loud.
It’s emotional: but refuses to explain itself.

Each track is a trace in dust – almost gone, but still felt.

I didn’t want to create something to hold onto.

I wanted to shape something that lets go of you, just as you begin to understand it.

The pieces drift. They fragment.
They don’t follow a story – they unfold like smoke, memory, or the ache for something you never truly had… but still miss.

Absence is not a place.
It’s a state.

And maybe … if only for a breath … it’s a mirror.

Shakura Shokubutsu
March 2025 | Studio XXV