Ryuichi Sakamoto async 180g 2LP

async is Ryuichi Sakamoto's first solo album in eight years. Taking inspiration from everyday objects, sculpture, and nature, Sakamoto composed and arranged the sounds/music that he most wanted to listen to. Paying close attention to the essence of each track and carefully balancing the sounds with a less-is-more perspective, what remains are singular expressions of Sakamoto's mindset, and one of his most personal albums.

The album was primarily recorded and conceived in NYC, with some elements drawn from field or location recordings and museums around the world. During the production process Sakamoto came upon the concept of creating a soundtrack for an Andrei Tarkovsky film that does not exist. Needless to add, Tarkovsky was one of his most favorite film directors.

The pallet includes conventional instrumentation such as piano and orchestra, but also a deep selection of unique acoustic and electric sounds both programmed and organic. The album plays with ideas of a-synchronism, prime numbers, chaos, quantum physics and the blurred lines of life and artificiality/noise and music.

Async is certainly not one of Sakamoto's most accessible albums, but if the listener is willing to devote several listens until it all makes sense, it ends up being quite powerful.