Async (2017)

"Sakamoto cites nature, everyday objects, and sculptures as influences on "Async", and its pieces incorporate recordings made outdoor as well as at museums, including a sound sculpture designed by Harry Bertoia. In addition to Sakamoto's piano playing and electronic processing, "Async" features intimately recorded acoustic instruments (including a shamisen and a singing bowl), guitar/laptop wizardry from Christian Fennesz, and orchestral elements. The focus was to combine musical as well as non-musical sounds, and it seems to function as scenes from daily life as well as musical compositions. As the album title suggests, the individual parts of most of the album's pieces move at different rhythms or intervals, making them seem random at first. As academic and non-emotional as all this might seem, Sakamoto still approaches his work from a human perspective, and there's more melody than there might appear on the surface. The album might be sparse, but it isn't hollow." (Paul Simpson, Allmusic; 4 uit 5 sterren)