Seigen Tokuzawa & Masaki Hayashi Drift

CAT No. FLAU85
Release Date: 2020-03-04
Format: CD/DIGITAL

その名の通り、Drift はリスナーをサウンドの海へと誘うアルバムです。チェリストの徳澤青弦とピアニストの林正樹が、9年の月日をかけてじっくりと練り上げたその作品は、スタイルとスタイルの間を漂流し、あらゆるトレンドとは別の場所で、彼らの音がドラマと夢の柔らかな衝突にあることを証明します。

ダイナミックな相互作用と洗練を見せる導入〜ハーモニクスから嵐のようなチェロとピアノへと半回転するオープニング・トラック「Elect」、律動するストラヴィンスキー風の 「Einstein Effect」 〜 から二人のパートナーシップは始まります。まだ見ぬ記憶の扉を開け、霧深い森や幻想の中を航海するように、想像のひだを刺激する。響きの余白とアルペジオを使って幽玄なサウンドスケープを描く「In The Early Morning」、春の田園風景の中で、その名の通り虫たちの目覚めを表現するかのような「Keichitsu」、The Velvet UndergroundやSquarepusherのカバーを含めた全12曲には、深い躍動と静謐さが同居するシネマティックな音像美が貫かれています。

まるでフレームを超えた空間の広がりを音が想起させるように、二人の個性、即興とテーマとが継ぎ目なくエスカレーションし、古典的なデュオの新しい調和の形をアップデートする。柔らかくリズミカルに波打つピアノ、低音とリードを等しく果たす端正なチェロが時に重なり、散らばり、まろやかな残響がメタフォリカルに映像世界を喚起する、エレガントなデビュー作です。

 

Originally, they have the attitude to cut out today’s world without concern for fashion. For example, they think that something particularly interesting, such as the tide of Tango and Bossa, will happen when something is mixed with other cultures, and they always want to aim for such a thing. Their backgrounds, skills etc are completely different. they enjoys drifting the soft clashes of that intercultural thing each others. The music should be able to see the visual.

True to its name, Drift is an album that casts the listener off into a sea of sound. Aptly “drifting” between styles and between themselves, the two artists behind this collaborative effort — cellist Seigen Tokuzawa and pianist Masaki Hayashi — have ensured that their sound is a soft clash of drama and dreaming, with no concern for fashion.

One thing the pair find particularly interesting is how cultures mix and mingle together, historically creating genres like tango and bossa nova; with their different backgrounds and different skills, their aim is to create such a mix themselves.

From first tracks ‘Elect’, flipping halfway from harmonics to a storm of cello and piano, and the half-locomotive, half-Stravinsky-esque ‘Einstein Effect’, Drift displays a dynamic partnership: not post-classical, not jazz, not ambient, but music the listener can almost see visually. ‘In the Early Morning’, for example, paints fantastical audio scenery with its negative space and arpeggios; ‘Keichitsu’ — a seasonal term referring to early March, literally meaning “awakening of insects” — feels like a springtime idyll.

Drift also contains unexpected covers of artists as varied as The Velvet Underground and Squarepusher, not only showing the artists’ strengths by injecting contemporary relevance into the duo of cello and piano, but also highlighting both artists’ influences in their choice of cover.

With Hayashi’s piano by turns surging and soft, rhythmic and virtuoso, Tokuzawa’s cello equally plays the role of bass and lead melody, making for perfect match of organic sound, a seamless excursion of interplay and musical themes.

KEEP READING

Track List

01 Elect

02 Einstein Effect

03 Iambic 9 Poetry

04 In the Early Morning

05 The South Downs

06 Quarter

07 Drift

08 Soramame

09 Keichitsu

10 Utsuroi

11 Venus in Furs

Press Quotes

a musical kūki o yomu (reading the air) that ensures harmony in the sound – Japan Times

expert musicianship and attention to compositional detail. You’ll be impressed at first, and then increasingly enthusiastic with subsequent listensModerns

beautifully, disruptively and demanding…penguin-café-like fusion composition and Brian Eno or Harold Budd’s old-school atmosphere is great cinema, a class in itselfGroove

Despite the minimalist solitariness of only two instruments, Drift frequently sounds far larger. It can be haunting and miserable, embracing and momentous. It’s always really, truly gorgeous – Tokyo Weekender

the duo are unafraid of making music of pure beauty…glassy, but intimate soundDrifting, Almost Falling

..i due musicisti giapponesi applicano ai loro strumenti una serie di segmentazioni e decostruzioni, dal peculiare dinamismo – Music Won’t Save You

静寂のなかに浮かびくる泡沫のような音楽…丁寧に整えられた作品の匂い、空間の残響、楽曲の隅々まで美しい作品JJazz.Net

リズミカルに躍動するピアノと深遠さを湛えたチェロ – Music Magazine

躍動と静謐さ、そして緊張の中にこそ生まれる美Intoxicate

Seigen Tokuzawa & Masaki Hayashi Drift

CAT No. FLAU85
Release Date: 2020-03-04
Format: CD/DIGITAL

Track List

01 Elect

02 Einstein Effect

03 Iambic 9 Poetry

04 In the Early Morning

05 The South Downs

06 Quarter

07 Drift

08 Soramame

09 Keichitsu

10 Utsuroi

11 Venus in Furs

その名の通り、Drift はリスナーをサウンドの海へと誘うアルバムです。チェリストの徳澤青弦とピアニストの林正樹が、9年の月日をかけてじっくりと練り上げたその作品は、スタイルとスタイルの間を漂流し、あらゆるトレンドとは別の場所で、彼らの音がドラマと夢の柔らかな衝突にあることを証明します。

ダイナミックな相互作用と洗練を見せる導入〜ハーモニクスから嵐のようなチェロとピアノへと半回転するオープニング・トラック「Elect」、律動するストラヴィンスキー風の 「Einstein Effect」 〜 から二人のパートナーシップは始まります。まだ見ぬ記憶の扉を開け、霧深い森や幻想の中を航海するように、想像のひだを刺激する。響きの余白とアルペジオを使って幽玄なサウンドスケープを描く「In The Early Morning」、春の田園風景の中で、その名の通り虫たちの目覚めを表現するかのような「Keichitsu」、The Velvet UndergroundやSquarepusherのカバーを含めた全12曲には、深い躍動と静謐さが同居するシネマティックな音像美が貫かれています。

まるでフレームを超えた空間の広がりを音が想起させるように、二人の個性、即興とテーマとが継ぎ目なくエスカレーションし、古典的なデュオの新しい調和の形をアップデートする。柔らかくリズミカルに波打つピアノ、低音とリードを等しく果たす端正なチェロが時に重なり、散らばり、まろやかな残響がメタフォリカルに映像世界を喚起する、エレガントなデビュー作です。

 

Originally, they have the attitude to cut out today’s world without concern for fashion. For example, they think that something particularly interesting, such as the tide of Tango and Bossa, will happen when something is mixed with other cultures, and they always want to aim for such a thing. Their backgrounds, skills etc are completely different. they enjoys drifting the soft clashes of that intercultural thing each others. The music should be able to see the visual.

True to its name, Drift is an album that casts the listener off into a sea of sound. Aptly “drifting” between styles and between themselves, the two artists behind this collaborative effort — cellist Seigen Tokuzawa and pianist Masaki Hayashi — have ensured that their sound is a soft clash of drama and dreaming, with no concern for fashion.

One thing the pair find particularly interesting is how cultures mix and mingle together, historically creating genres like tango and bossa nova; with their different backgrounds and different skills, their aim is to create such a mix themselves.

From first tracks ‘Elect’, flipping halfway from harmonics to a storm of cello and piano, and the half-locomotive, half-Stravinsky-esque ‘Einstein Effect’, Drift displays a dynamic partnership: not post-classical, not jazz, not ambient, but music the listener can almost see visually. ‘In the Early Morning’, for example, paints fantastical audio scenery with its negative space and arpeggios; ‘Keichitsu’ — a seasonal term referring to early March, literally meaning “awakening of insects” — feels like a springtime idyll.

Drift also contains unexpected covers of artists as varied as The Velvet Underground and Squarepusher, not only showing the artists’ strengths by injecting contemporary relevance into the duo of cello and piano, but also highlighting both artists’ influences in their choice of cover.

With Hayashi’s piano by turns surging and soft, rhythmic and virtuoso, Tokuzawa’s cello equally plays the role of bass and lead melody, making for perfect match of organic sound, a seamless excursion of interplay and musical themes.

KEEP READING