While at university, Dutch artist Rindert Lammers experienced the sudden loss of three loved ones. He found solace in cinema, visiting local independent theaters up to four times a week with a Cineville pass. That period of his life, and the comfort he experienced through cinema, is woven through his debut album Thank You Kirin Kiki – named after the Japanese actress who passed away shortly after the release of the highly acclaimed Shoplifters (2018), Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Ripples of gratitude also extend beyond cinema, notably, on the album’s fourth track, “Sleep Well Hiroshi Yoshimura,” named after the Japanese ambient music pioneer, who only became more widely known outside of Japan following his death in 2003 (I recently wrote a news piece about the reissue of his Flora album here).
As well as gratitude, there’s a humbling deep empathy to Sleep Well Hiroshi Yoshimura, described as the heart of the album, on which a speaker reads a comment which was taken from a Hiroshi Yoshimura video on YouTube.
“One of the sparks for my album came from an emotional YouTube comment my brother shared with me. Beneath a video featuring the late Japanese ambient pioneer Hiroshi Yoshimura, someone wrote about living alone in a van for two years in the streets and parks of Tokyo. Listening to Yoshimura’s calm, meditative music had made that period the happiest time of their life. This comment became a gateway for me into the cinematic world of Thank You Kirin Kiki. On the track Sleep Well Hiroshi Yoshimura, I included a spoken rendition of that comment, and I think this is the heart of the album.'”
Watch the accompanying video below which was filmed by Peter Marcus.
The rest of the album has been described as unfolding like a film, with “Summer in Shibuya” serving as a trailer, “Opening Credits” introducing the narrative, and “Closing Credits” bringing the story to a poignant conclusion.
Thank You Kirin Kiki is released on Western Vinyl on April 18th, 2025.
Pre-Order: https://lnk.to/thankyoukirinkiki