Taku Sugimoto

*100 copies limited edition* Captured at various sites across Tokyo between 2016 and 2022, this new body of work serves as an informal “best of” that compiles versions of some of Taku’s favorite compositions from this time. Across these nine sonic miniatures, his signature unprocessed, hyper-minimalist guitar playing takes center stage – recorded, naturally, at outdoor locations – while Minami Saeki [voice] and Christian Kobi [soprano saxophone] shade additional color into the album’s skeletal performances. Each composition on the album consists of modal melodies, using only limited tones. Neither chordal structure nor steady rhythm is present. Some pieces are as simple as an unadorned melody, accompanied only by the aleatoric backdrop of whatever park Taku has chosen for the session, while others include subtle gestures towards counterpoint and more intricate structure. On “Vertical Modulation 2,” for instance, each of three players [soprano sax, voice, and guitar] perform different fragments of melody based on a 6-tone scale in different registers, while tracks like “More #1” and “A Chant by Oto-tachibana” are intended for two [or more] players.

The effect is a stunning exercise in focus and restraint, weaving microscopic musical events into a hushed latticework – the sort of quiet, spare music that stakes a claim for itself against the ever-rising din of our accelerating civilization and says, “be still.”