RYUICHI SAKAMOTO レコード& CD

Review: This is a CD verison of Ryuichi Sakamoto's very welcome return to the fray. It is his first solo album since 2017's async. Milan Records have released 12 in January to coincide with the venerated Japanese composer's 71st birthday, and the timing is poignant given the album draws from musical sketches created while Sakamoto battled for two and a half years with cancer. Sakamoto himself describes reaching for his synths as a kind of therapeutic response to a big operation, and so the music carries an added depth of personal experience from one of the most profound ordeals a person can go through.