Rainstick Orchestra

I first heard Rainstick Orchestra on KCRW a couple of years ago and immediately fell in love with its clever arrangements, memorable melodies and hints of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass. (Even though the sound sometimes veers dangerously close to what I imagine Spyro Gyra or the Yellow Jackets must have sounded like.)
I played the album (The Floating Glass Key in the Sky) pretty relentlessly for a couple of weeks, and then moved on to something else, and frankly forgot about it. However, this week, as I was sitting with Conner, my six month old son, in my living room listening, to music while everyone else slept, during that space of time just before the sun comes up, when the birds start to sing and the shadows outside resolve themselves into trees and the tops of buildings, this song popped up on my Ipod, and Conner smiled hugely, and awkwardly reached out to hug me, and the music perfectly matched our mood and briefly reflected the brightening sky.
Rainstick Orchestra - Waltz for a Little Bird

Rainstick Orchestra is made up of two Japanese musicians, Baku Tsunoda and Naomichi Tanaka. The album is available from Amazon.