This is a PRE-ORDER item. Release date wil be 21st July 2021. Delivery will be made after the release date.
Ichiko Hashimoto
view
najanaja (Japan) 2021
NAJA-010 (CD) paper sleeve w/obi, insert.
sleeve : NEW
media : NEW
release date : 21st July 2021
Pianist/vocalist/composer Ichiko Hashimoto, whose Colored Music and solo masterpieces are now captivating music lovers the world over, presents her latest recording. She performs original songs as well as her own interpretations and covers of John Coltrane, Toninho Horta, The Beatles and standard numbers. It's a beautiful, deeply moving response to where we are today. Not only for jazz fans, but also for ambient/new age lovers. Chee Shimizu have written an official comment on the album, which you can read here.
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Darkness, illusion, beautiful deep ambience.
Through her solo career and numerous projects, Ichiko Hashimoto has always been at the forefront of musical expression. Her debut album as a unit with Atsuo Fujimoto, "Coloured Music", was released in 1981 and still has a great impact on the club music scene 40 years later. Many of her solo albums from the 80's have found a worldwide following in the current ambient/new age scene and the Japanese pop revival scene. Her music transcends time, generation and borders and continues to resonate with many people. In recent years, she has demonstrated a creativity so diverse that it is pointless to pigeonhole it into a particular genre or style, such as the lightness of her body in the bossa duo with Yoshiro Nakamura, or the contrast of light and shadow in the soundtrack to Makoto Tezuka's Barubora, released last November. Her long awaited new album, "view", is her first in twelve years since 2009's "Arc'd-X". What does Ichiko Hashimoto see now?
Produced by herself and directed by Atsuo Fujimoto, who understands her musicality better than anyone, the album contains five originals and six covers. An endlessly delicate approach to the piano, voicings that transcend the concept of vocals. They resonate with each other, amplify each other, and create a profound sound. Atsuo Fujimoto's finely grained drums and coolly grooving bass, Shinpei Ruike's effected trumpet and Naruyoshi Kikuchi's floating alto saxophone, Mayumi Hashimoto's chorus in perfect harmony. The guest musicians on this album clearly add an essential element to her music. In this beautiful sequence of sounds that forms the whole of the album, more than in any of her previous works, we can feel the essential physicality of the musician Ichiko Hashimoto. Inside the tranquil world of sound lies an immeasurably deep physicality. She dives deep into her own subconscious and surrenders herself to the darkness and visions that emerge beyond her individual existence. She breathes in and vibrates her whole body with echoes of fear, sadness and prayer. The vibrations are transformed into piano melodies and voices, and beautiful music is born. And again, it resonates deeply.
Inside, Outside. Don’t be afraid.
Chee Shimizu