We’re only a few days away from the release of Bird Ambience, the much anticipated new album from Masayoshi Fujita. The master vibraphonist, multi-percussionist, and composer had already enticed us with three magnificent tracks from the album, ‘Thunder‘, Bird Ambience‘ and more recently ‘Morocco’, a cinematic track that gently whisks one away on a voyage of wonder and delight. Now Fujita has paired the latest single with a befittingly gorgeous and sublime video directed, shot, acted, edited and graded by himself. “The theme for this video is to visualize what I had in mind for the song, and also to visualize how I dive into the image that I get from the sound when I composed or whenever I play it,” Fujita explained. Take a look below and grab Bird Ambience when it’s out this Friday May 28th through Erased Tapes.

Scheduled for release later this month via Erased Tapes, Bird Ambience is the beautiful and beguiling new album from master vibraphonist, multi-percussionist, and composer Masayoshi Fujita. Following two magnificent singles, ‘Thunder‘ and the title track, Fujita is giving us another extraordinary taste from the album with ‘Morocco’, a cinematic track that gently whisk us away on a voyage of wonder and delight. Take a listen now.

Bird Ambience is out on May 28th through Erased Tapes.

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.

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.

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.