Photo by Takahiro Wada.
Six years after the release of Love If Possible, Osaka psych-rock icon Shintaro Sakamoto has returned with Like a Fable, his fourth solo LP. Arriving via Zelone Records/Secretly Distribution, the album features Sakamoto’s long-time backing band — Yuta Suganuma on drums, AYA (OOIOO) on bass and backing vocals, and Tetsu Nishiuchi on saxophone and flute — as well as KEN KEN, who plays trombone on two tracks. It’s engineered by Soichiro Nakamura and, as with most of Sakamoto’s releases, the artwork is his own.
Best known for his 20-year tenure as the frontman of Yura Yura Teikoku and for his groundbreaking sophomore solo release, 2014’s Let’s Dance Raw, Sakamoto champions and expands on his native island’s very specific sound, mixing aqueous guitar lines with lush arrangements that belie his group’s four-piece setup. On the new record, he muses on the ways our daily lives have fundamentally changed (and stayed the same) in the midst of a global pandemic. Listen below.