QUOTE
Undoubtedly track 4 'Chair Father' is when jaws drop on this album. The heartstrings are pulled to breaking point for the short 3 minutes, but the damage done in this short time is more than many albums could manage in their entirety.
this review should convince you..Yasushi Yoshida
Yasushi Yoshida - Secret Figure (noble)
There's been half as many new releases this year that have got me excited, that's possibly why this blog died a bit over the last few months. I've been buying fewer album as i normally do only to find many of them are less than impressive.
One album from a few months ago that didn't fall into that category is 'secret figure' by 28 year old Yasushi Yoshida. Not content with performing with Pan American and Piana, Yoshida now releases this magnificent debut.
Secret Figure sounds like the score to a movie and the mood is such that it could easily substitute Yann Tiersen's 'Goodbye Lenin' soundtrack. This cinematic feel is inevitable due to the constant piano, cello and violin.
The relatively short 42 minutes of this album is no indication of the heart wrenching journey it's listener is about to take. It begins with 'silent park' which is reminiscent of Max Richter's 'On The Nature Of Daylight' as it grows from the smallest seed and takes on size with each added layer of violin and cello.
Track 3 'parade' is developed seamlessly from the previous track with more tragically slow mournful strings, but sigur ros type thumps and dull cracks make up the rhythm gaining importance and creating vivid imagery of our treasured memories.
Undoubtedly track 4 'Chair Father' is when jaws drop on this album. The heartstrings are pulled to breaking point for the short 3 minutes, but the damage done in this short time is more than many albums could manage in their entirety. there's an onslaught of strings, music box and piano constructed in such a way that you're hanging on every note and attentively taking in the clattering of what sounds like moving chairs crashing to the ground.
After an overload of cinematic strings that have left us exhausted, Yoshida bids us farewell with the minimal sounds of the piano and glockenspiel. Things remain as melancholic as expected here. i feel there's no intended sense of hope expressed at the end, which is a brave thing to do. This give us an ending in the true sense of the word. There's a finality leaving you with no other option but to put the record back to the beginning again.
Secret Figure is an album to bety treasured, it's one of those rare pieces that defies genre. Part classical, part electronic, part acoustic with simple pop sensibilities, it's possibly the best thing the fantastic noble records have released to date and deserves a wider audience. Essential.
source:
http://babystar.spaces.live.com/blog/cns&#...2!968.entry
you guys are missing out. you really gotta give this a try..
Posted 12 July 2007 - 12:47 AM
