Masakatsu Takagi
Kagayaki


5.0
classic

Review

by heyadam USER (22 Reviews)
February 13th, 2023 | 50 replies


Release Date: 2014 | Tracklist

Review Summary: vignettes on presence.

To describe something as “deeply human” is to invariably walk the line between hyperbole and sentimentality.

It’s a phrase you’ll find in blurbs about the newest A24 film or in the middle of a pretentious album review (ahem), but it’s also a phrase that I can’t help but coming back to every time I revisit Masakatsu Takagi’s seventy-five minute opus Kagayaki.

Takagi, most well-known for his composition work on some of Mamoru Hosoda’s biggest films like Wolf Children and Mirai, really shows a level of creativity and storytelling on this project that rivals the storytelling of those same films; it’s just as cinematic and sweeping, and the vividness of the interpretive story it tells is as tangible as if it were being projected on a screen.

Combining field-recordings of “slice of life” vignettes and natural sounds, glitch, vocal layering, piano, traditional folk instruments, sampled orchestration, and some top-tier production, Takagi really has mastered the art of immersion.

Take the collection’s centerpiece, the eleven minute long track “Nurse them Make a fire Feed yourself Express your mirth” for example; it begins with a meditative melody on a traditional woodwind instrument which then develops into a full “center of the village during a festival” moment complete with tambourine, white-noise chatter and laughter from random passersby, and a driving piano that crescendos as the festival reaches its height. The festival and all of its presence then dies down, and Takagi seamlessly falls into a warm and rolling piano melody that lasts for a few minutes before fading into sparse notes that are accompanied with field recordings of conversation. The end of the track morphs from a chamber-folk swell into a reprise of some of the earlier melodies found in the track while fading in a recording of a group of kids playing.

While not my favorite track on the record, it’s a great example of what this album sets out to do consistently across its long run time, namely, to bring the listener into many intimate moments with both people and nature using a range of instruments and sounds.

Takagi’s (mostly) warm and bright instrumentation acts as a guide and leads the listener like a shimmering golden thread weaving its way in and out of the abstract and bringing into focus vivid scenes, while his production choices constantly evoke a feeling of being grounded in a particular moment.

It’s in the deliberate way that he mics his acoustic piano, and in the very surgical mixing altogether, where he’s able to make you feel like you’re sharing the same physical space; that you are in the pavilion with the community choir during practice (“Ageha (Gasso)”), or that you you are on the side of a country road catching up with some friends and singing some folk songs (“Tani no Hamabe”). In fact, the former moment with the community choir is one of my favorite parts on the record. The mic is set up in the distance as Takagi leads a choir through vocal warmups. You hear some coughs every now and then, and you begin to hear the choir really coalesce into a single voice. Some horns and woodwinds begin to accompany the swells, and as the choir continues to climb into the upper registers of their voices while the instruments behind them soar, they break into laughter as some of their number falls out of time. It’s such a pure human moment that I can’t help but feel moved every time I hear it.

I don’t think we’re collectively gifted records like this one often. It’s a collection filled with joy, curiosity, heart, wonder, and above all, a genuine sense of presence. It endears itself not just through its playful and contemplative melodies, or through its cast of characters that pop up throughout its runtime, but through its synthesis of both of these things; the sounds of the cicadas and kokyū, the musings of an old woman and the piano, the children playing and the tambourines.

Life is happening all around, and to me, that's comforting.



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user ratings (28)
4.2
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
heyadam
February 13th 2023


4442 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

I'll be passing out barf bags for the amount of hyperbole this review has, but it's a hard record to talk about lmao. I love it though, and hope this review does it a little bit of justice.

coachcake
February 13th 2023


58 Comments


Always happy to see masakatsu pop up and people finding something resonant in his music. He's rather wonderful and his music is very special to me.

I still find wolf children to be his masterpiece and the album I return to the most of his, but this is has all the hallmarks of what makes him one of my favorite artists.

heyadam
February 13th 2023


4442 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

wolf children is v good! I think this one def resonated the most with me at the time I first heard it. definitely a special record.



he’s really slept on, though. I have three of the Marginalias on vinyl and I’m hoping I can pick up the rest soon. thanks for reading!

Demon of the Fall
February 13th 2023


35956 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Kudos for taking this on. I'm certainly happy to see it reviewed. Wonderful album.

I'll give this a proper read in a bit.

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
February 13th 2023


62662 Comments

Album Rating: 4.2

IT IS HERE

Demon of the Fall
February 13th 2023


35956 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

nice rating, pretty sure I rec'd this to you Johnny

which is weird because JAPAN!

dedex
Staff Reviewer
February 13th 2023


12835 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

woah nice to see this covered! I'll give this a proper read in a bit [2]

DadKungFu
Staff Reviewer
February 13th 2023


5514 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Only heard thus once but what I remember was really good, great review as well

Demon of the Fall
February 13th 2023


35956 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah, this is a fantastic review. Bravo.

I think most of all, you really captured the idea that this feels organic, breathing, almost like you're a lucky bystander eavesdropping on a vibrant community. It's an intimate release. One which is very much aided by Tagaki's excellent production choices.

dedex
Staff Reviewer
February 13th 2023


12835 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

warm review, which is what this album needs!

heyadam
February 13th 2023


4442 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

@Demon appreciate it! Yeah I had a draft of this going back over a year ago, but it was a tough one to write. Still don't think I was able to completely nail it, but it was a genuine crime there was no review for this



@Johnny THE PROMISED REVIEW. also hope you are well < 3



@dedex cheers! Thanks for reading. It really did need a review. Honestly this could sit anyone from a 4-5 for me and still feel accurate. I just hope a couple more people check it out



@dad def revisit it if you have the time! and thanks a ton. there's just something magical about it for sure

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
February 14th 2023


62662 Comments

Album Rating: 4.2

This review is hugs! I love it and will jam this again soon mmmmm

"pretty sure I rec'd this to you Johnny"

Lol um you did and then I forgot, and then grabbed it off the rym new age charts when I was cramming that and THEN remembered that he was the same guy who made wolf children so I had a good reason to check it anyway and then um the moral is ALL ROADS LEAD TO

heyadam
February 14th 2023


4442 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

thx homie! a revisit is needed for sure, there's just so much to take in.



lowkey going to look for a copy of Wolf Children on vinyl when I'm in Tokyo in a couple weeks bc the one person on discogs is still trying to get $250-300 for it. I wish this had a pressing!

coachcake
February 14th 2023


58 Comments


Can confirm wolf children on vinyl sounds lovely. Copped it a few years ago, definitely one of my prized possessions along with KSK on Vinyl

hogan900
February 14th 2023


3332 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

glad i came across this review, absolutely stunning

heyadam
February 14th 2023


4442 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

@coach super jealous! I think a couple of my crown jewels are the kimi no na wa Radwimps sound track, and then Ichiko's mahoroboshiya



@hogan cheers homie! so glad you dug listening. I'd imagine it could be a daunting first listen, but it's also very easy to get lost in (in a good way).

Elynna
February 14th 2023


1501 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Lovely write-up. This is one of those special albums that sticks with you for a long while after listening.

hogan900
February 14th 2023


3332 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Cannot stop listening tbh, ooharu had me hooked

Demon of the Fall
February 14th 2023


35956 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Hang on, you only just started with this? Nice 5 👍🏻

hogan900
February 14th 2023


3332 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

i jammed about 4 times at work today LOL



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