VIA PRESS RELEASE | async is Ryuichi Sakamoto’s first solo album in 8 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 current mindset, and one of his most personal albums.
The album has been announced for a worldwide release on April 28th on Milan Records, who will be releasing the album on 2xLP, digital, and cd following the Japan-only release on March 29th. Additionally, a worldwide premiere of async will be happening at listening events at the Big Ears Festival next week in Knoxville, TN, March 23rd-26th, where it will be presented in a special 5.1 surround sound mix. Lastly, Sakamoto will be performing two sold out shows on April 25th and 26th in New York at the Park Avenue Armory Veterans Room.
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 is one of his most favorite film directors. The palette 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.
