Ryuichi Sakamoto

async MILAN. CD/DL/LP

Japanese composer’s first solo LP in 8 years, after 2015 recovery from throat cancer.

Described by Ryuichi Sakamoto as Òan imaginary soundtrack to an Andrei Tarkovsky filmÓ, this unfolds like a journey from the claustrophobic to the dreamlike. It begins with a possible Bach adaptation, an adagio for piano, that morphs into a sombre, processional organ work, gradually overwhelmed by the amplified sounds of the church and analogue electronic hum: an act of remembrance interrupted by the outside world. Recorded in New York, and influenced by prime numbers, chaos and asynchrony, async travels through prepared piano pieces, to sweeping soundtrack romanticism, naive pop electronica, pounding avant discord and minimalist digital decay. ItÕs a work of journey and memoir, where SakamotoÕs compositions are always tracked by another ÔpresenceÕ, whether that be rainfall, footsteps in empty museums, the spoken words of Tarkovsky and Paul Bowles, or just the buzzing of the air itself; the sounds of surrounding life collaborating with art.