Masayoshi Fujita, a Japanese composer, vibraphonist, and marimba player, will release his new album, Migratory, on Sept 6th via Erased Tapes. Over the past few years, Fujita has undergone his own personal migration to pursue his dream of living and composing music in nature. In 2020, after 13 years in Berlin, he returned to Japan with his wife and three children. They now reside in Kami-cho, Hyōgo, a hidden paradise along the coast, three hours west of Kyoto. Fujita transformed an old kindergarten into his personal music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, after settling in the area.
He has just shared two new singles, including the album’s centrepiece, “Our Mother’s Lights,” featuring Moor Mother, who lent her powerful voice, and the mesmerising “Valley.”
On “Our Mother’s Lights”, Moor Mother said “I love the creative work of Masayoshi. To collaborate on such a beautiful composition is really exciting and I’m honoured for the world to hear it.”
Masayoshi Fujita added “I didn’t intend to add any vocals to ‘Our Mother’s Lights’. But through some lovely encounters with Camae (Moor Mother), it just happened. And I’m glad that it did, because her voice and lyrics are so powerful and fit with the image of the song very well. She has just brought this song to another level.”
On “Valley“, Masayoshi Fujita said “I had this bowed marimba phrase idea whilst I was scoring a film last year. When I made this song, I envisioned clouds crawling over mountains and valleys from the point of view of a bird.”
The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds travelling somewhere between Africa, Southeast Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.
Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots”.
Pre-Order Migratory: https://idol-io.ffm.to/Migratory