wedbas.blogg.se

That's followed by "Tri," the album's simplest song, where Sakamoto plays notes on a triangle. There are pieces that focus on sound rather than melody, like the low, discordant piano notes of "Disintegration." Other tracks blur boundaries, such as the unsettling "Async," where strings are plucked sharply alongside percussion until you can't tell them apart. There are new age compositions like "Ff" that highlight angelic tones. On tracks like "ZURE" there are gorgeous synthesizer passages, where poignant chords ring out into the emptiness. Each track presents a central idea, embellished by just a few instruments or sounds, that studies a different facet of Sakamoto's musical persona. Sakamoto himself mentioned Andrei Tarkovsky as part of the inspiration for the album, and that director's habit for long takes and still scenes manifests in the way Sakamoto savours every sound and the reverb trail. It begins with solo piano that's eventually subsumed by funereal organs, and later, on "Ubi," a downcast piano melody conjures up a sad scene from some old movie. While Sakamoto might have a new perspective on life, async isn't exactly a cheery album. async is a humble record about appreciating the little things in life and taking in the fullness of sound, even at its most delicate. async is Sakamoto's first solo album since news emerged of his illness. After some time off, the Japanese artist returned with a score for The Revenant and has since worked on other projects. He's tied into so many strands of modern music that the last 40 years would be hard to imagine without his influence, which is why his throat cancer diagnosis in 2014 hit so hard. He's a pop and electronic music pioneer, an actor, an Oscar- and Grammy Award-winning composer and a remarkable pianist. Ryuichi Sakamoto's name carries a lot of weight.