AMN Reviews: Hideyuki Hashimoto – Earth (nlart)

Debut album by Osaka-based Hideyuki Hashimoto, a naturalist with a piano, collecting musical butterflies in his light, meshed net.

Gentle and narrative as a show of pastoral watercolours by local artists in the parish hall. Yet his thinking and playing is that of a sophisticate, as the subtle cogitations of ”Hikari” display. ”Core” is so colourful, lovely and innocent, it would immediately capture the attention of an infant and hold it rapt. ”A Petal” and ”Loops” seem a tad downhearted, but you can tell that it won´t last long.

The twenty-six year old Hashimoto names Keith Jarrett and Ryuichi Sakamoto as influences, but throughout “Earth” I keep hearing the tone of  Vince Guaraldi´s soundtracks for ”Peanuts”, which I consider high praise indeed.

The baker´s dozen of minatures is rounded off with a more ponderous, eleven-minute ”Grounding”. A downcast appendix fretting over the actual state of our planet?

http://nlart.bandcamp.com/

Stephen Fruitman