For example, Coda shows Sakamoto ‘fish up’ the sounds of the icy water from under arctic ice, as well as him playing a piano that was damaged by the tsunami near Fukushima, its sound warped by nature. He takes inspiration from John Cage, who once said ‘sounds should be allowed to be themselves’, as well as from film director Andrei Tarkovsky, who pays considerable attention to nature and natural sounds in his films. Sakamoto focuses on everyday sounds and sounds from nature. Everyone should listen to sounds without judging’. People claim the freedom to decide what sounds are good or bad. In the documentary, Sakamoto says: ‘All sounds are inevitable. Schible shows how Sakamoto approaches his work while at the same time recovering from throat cancer. In the process of making the album async, composer Ryuichi Sakamoto was followed by documentary maker and director Stephen Nomura Schible, who not only filmed the album presentation, but also made the documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda about him. Stephen Nomura Schible, who at the time was also making the documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, made this filmic recording of it. In 2018, Sakamoto presented the album live in the intimate setting of the Veteran’s Room of the Park Avenue Armory in New York. The result is an album that focuses on the essence of each individual sound. He used a piano, and orchestral instruments, but also a selection of unique acoustic and electronic sounds and location recordings. Sakamoto – known for his many film scores – decided to make a soundtrack for an imaginary Tarkovsky film. It turned into one of his most personal albums, which media like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork praised as one of the best 2017 releases.Īn important source of inspiration for async was the work of film director Andrei Tarkovsky.
async is the first solo album Sakamoto made after recovering from throat cancer. It turned into what he calls an ‘asynchronous’ album, without a central rhythm, resulting in unpredictable sounds with plenty of room for experimentation. Inspired by everyday sounds and nature, Ryuichi Sakamoto composed and arranged what he would most enjoy listening to himself in 2017.