Masayoshi Fujita previews upcoming album, Bird Ambience, with title track

Last month we heard and loved the gorgeous and delicate ‘Thunder’, the lead single taken from Masayoshi Fujita‘s upcoming album Bird Ambience. The master vibraphonist, multi-percussionist, and composer explores a new sonic direction on Bird Ambiance, turning the spotlight on the marimba and bringing to full fruition influences that he had kept separate until now, including his acoustic solo recordings, the electronic dub releases under his El Fog moniker, and his experimental improvisations.

Fujita is offering another glorious glimpse into the album with the title track now streaming. Featuring label mate Hatis Noit, on the new single Fujita “weaves in celestial choral samples”, as the press release describes,  “and slow-motion, skeletal glitch jazz drums.”

Wrap your ears around ‘Bird Ambience’ now and grab the album when it’s out on May 28th through Erased Tapes.

Masayoshi Fujita details new album release, Bird Ambience, and shares first single ‘Thunder’

Photo: Özge Cöne

There’s a new album on the way from Japanese master vibraphonist, multi-percussionist, and composer Masayoshi Fujita. Entitled Bird Ambience, it follows his 2018’s Book Of Life. Drawing from influences he’d kept separate until now, his acoustic solo recordings, the electronic dub releases under his El Fog moniker, and his experimental improvisations, Bird Ambience sees Fujita embrace a new sonic direction. Unlike previous works where the vibraphone was the signature instrument, on his upcoming album the marimba takes centre stage alongside drums, percussion, synths, effects and tape recorder.

“The way of playing the marimba is similar to the vibraphone, so it was kind of a natural development for me and easier to start with, yet it sounds very different”, Fujita explained. “The marimba bars are made with wood and it has a wider range than the vibraphone, which gives me a bigger sound palette with more possibilities. I play the instrument with bows and mallets, and sometimes manipulate it with effects.”

Fujita also commented on his approach to improvisation:

“I prioritised trying to capture the wonder which happens during those occasional magic improv moments. Sometimes the mic-ing and placement of instruments was pretty rough; things weren’t perfect and everything was done quickly, but it turned out as the final recording. Overall when I couldn’t decide between two takes, I told myself to go with the first.”

Bird Ambience arrives on May 28th through Erased Tapes and we can already hear the gorgeous and delicate lead single ‘Thunder’. The track was inspired by Anna Akhmatova’s poem You Will Hear Thunder. The single comes with a fittingly stunning video directed and shot by Ryo Noda in the mountains near Hyogo where Fujita now lives.

Masayoshi Fujita announces new album Book Of Life

Berlin based Japanese vibraphonist and composer Masayoshi Fujita has a new album on the way, following 2015’s Apologues and 2016’s Schaum, his collaborative album with experimental producer Jan Jelinek. Entitled Book Of Life, the album sees Fujita, who plays and uses the vibraphone in an unusual way, placing the instrument again front and centre. He explains:

“I think the vibraphone is capable of more interesting and beautiful sounds that haven’t been heard before. It’s quite a new instrument but it’s often played in a similar way. I feel that there is a lot more to explore with this exciting instrument.”

As with Apologues, where Fujita used for the first time other instruments like the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, French horn, accordion, piano and percussion, Book Of Life is also enriched with strings, flute and a choir.

Ahead of its release on July 27th through Erased Tapes, we can already hear the bewitching first single ‘It’s Magical’. Other than the vibraphone, it features two cellos and a flute “like a man who’s put artificial wings on his arms to attempt to fly like a bird, before an airplane was invented,” as Fujita said.

Coinciding with the release of Book Of Life, Erased Tapes is also re-issuing his debut record Stories.

Masayoshi Fujita shares new single ‘Moonlight’

Masayoshi Fujita - Apologues

Last month we heard the beautiful ‘Tears of Unicorn’, the first single taken from Masayoshi Fujita‘s upcoming album Apologues. The Berlin based Japanese vibraphonist has unveiled another beguiling track from the album called ‘Moonlight’. Fujita plays and uses the vibraphone in an unusual way and this track saw him place bead strings on the bars to create an ambient shimmer. Listen to it below and grab Apologues when it’s out on September 11th via Erased Tapes.

Masayoshi Fujita joins Erased Tapes, announces new album Apologues

Masayoshi Fujita - Tears of Unicorn

Berlin based Japanese vibraphonist Masayoshi Fujita,  who is also known under moniker el fog, is gearing up to release a new full-length album. His new effort, entitled Apologues, is due out on September 11th via Erased Tapes.
Other than the vibraphone, Apologues sees Masayoshi using for the first time several other instruments, incluing the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, French horn, accordion, piano and percussion, all arranged by himself.  Speaking about the album, Masayoshi had this to say:

“With this album the main idea was to evoke images, atmospheres, sceneries and stories in the listener, the images that have accumulated in myself. At the same time it was an exploration of the unexplored beauty of the vibraphone, and also a pursuit of the charm of the instrumentation and the music itself. Erased Tapes releases a lot of great stuff and naturally became my favourite label of late. And I thought it would fit well to my music.”

‘Tears of Unicorn’ is the first beautiful single lifted from Apologues. Listen to the track below, and straight after check out a solo vibraphone version of it performed live in Berlin.