Susumu Yokota
Sakura

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I'm returning to talk about an author I've reviewed before, with the opportunity arising from this 1999 album, although I only discovered it a few days ago. "Sakura" is what some short-lived flowering fruits that ripen in the Japanese summers are called. This rare work of boundless beauty and unlimited grace is instead the result of Susumu Yokota, now a historic name for those who dabble in international ambient electronic music. Known in Europe for his "house-oriented" works like the albums "1998", "1999", and "Zero" released by Sublime Records, this "Sakura" (released by LEAF, does that ring a bell?) confirms him as one of the most intelligent and refined producers of new sounds around.

The album has the lightness and all the grace of a newly blossomed flower: a strange intersection of traditional acoustic experiments and the evocative atmospheres of the warmest and most enveloping electronic contamination. With the release of this rare gem, the ideal ambient trilogy of this Japanese producer concludes, who, in the last 15 years, has produced no less than 14 albums, boldly navigating between techno, house, and ambient. "Sakura" starts anew with 12 pieces, in which the ideas are dilated, rendered almost immobile in their fluidity, internalized, made ethereal and elusive, hidden among gentle hypnotic loops of rare intensity, in an ambient atmosphere that negates any genre classification, bringing the sublime and traces of enlightenment to almost mystical territories. There is little to explain, and I realize I'm using too many words. It's like trying to describe the intensity of a sunset, the poetry of a cloud forming, the lightness of a bamboo cane bent by the wind: it's a sterile and useless exercise that will never convey the full emotion experienced.

In certain cases, few words suffice, the fewer the better, and just let yourself be transported with closed eyes to distant worlds. The same worlds explored by people like J. Cage, Brian Eno, or the closer Pan American. In short: a magical losing oneself.