Sakura

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Arguably the most accomplished of the three ambient albums Susumu Yokota has now released on the Leaf label. Hailed as one of Japan's preeminent house/techno DJs, in Europe Yokota is becoming known for his more introspective side, as first glimpsed on Magic Thread and Image 1983-1998. Sakura completes this initial trilogy with relish and Yokota emerges as a contemporary ambient composer who brings the freshness of his own singular vision to delicate miniatures not unlike the first forays of Brian Eno into the genre he created in the early eighties. As with Eno but sorely lacking in many current ambient releases, this is a music eminently suitable as pleasant background music which, upon closer aural scrutiny, unfolds its more complex secrets like an origami swan. Yokota is a master of understatement, using a voice that whispers but which rings out with the clarity of its distinct, masterful command and sheer melodic confidence. Words merely banalize the beauty of this recording. Go and listen.