Masakatsu Takagi - Kagayaki

Masakatsu Takagi made this album when he moved from the city to a small village in Japanese mountains. Such a Wikipedia-entry-style introduction usually isn’t that informative when describing music, but for this album I just had to start with this information, as it radiates wholesome small community life.

The record is a bit unconventional - it is long, meandering and features a mixture of birdsong, sounds of children playing, wicked string quartets and some absolutely beautiful piano playing of the type I love - no virtuosity, just someone at an old piano really playing their heart out. All of this combined makes for an interesting spaciousness and inherent curiosity.

In an interview, Takagi mentions that when making music he is not so much occupied with sound or rhythm, but that he is looking for some kind of ‘womb place’. In the same interview, he states that music, especially sound itself, has the power to lead us to concentrate on pure feelings that we already have. This might sound vague, but listening to Kagayaki I think I understand what he means.

~ Camiel

Check out the album on Spotify or elsewhere. If you prefer Bandcamp: this album isn’t on there, but he posts new improvised piano recordings there almost every day, I can recommend those as well.