Ryuichi Sakamoto 
12
(Milan Records)

WHEN Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away in March this year, aged 71, after a long battle with cancer. he left a legacy of pioneering music. 

From his ground breaking work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, in the 1970s to his prolific solo projects, jazz, sonic art, production work and film scores such as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. His brilliant song writing included the anti-war epic Zero Landmine.

As he approached his death he said of the final album: “I had no intention of composing something. I just wanted to be showered in sound.” It consists of 12 pieces for piano, synths and bells with each title referring to the day it was recorded. 

The opener 20210310, is a slow ambient dreamlike work, Atmospheres drifting in and out of focus, melancholy to the fore, deep reflective emotions as the composer looked to his final journey. 

Other synth based works explore deep bass tones, as if plucked from the score of a lost Blade Runner soundtrack.

20211130 works around simple winding piano refrains backed by distant harmonic synth drones. Understated and melodic, in places referencing the work of fellow pianist composer Harold Budd. 

The sound of Sakamoto’s breath is audible at times as he struggled with the energy to play. Later piano tracks take on more developed compositions, up tempo and optimistic. 

Always with Sakamoto’s unique signature approach to his piano composition. The closing track 20220304 is a one-minute field recording of bells ringing in the wind, sounding in parts like coins rolling in empty stone rooms, intimate and mysterious. 

Modest, humble and haunting. Like the man himself, hugely missed.