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First Review of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Forthcoming Song 'fragments, time' Praises the Earthy, Musical Sound of Breaking Pottery

As Ryuichi Sakamoto works on the production of '2020S', a luxurious "complete art box" that collects all of his works from 2020 on seven vinyl records, the progress has been documented by the 'BEHIND THE SCENE,' a series of articles. A new update, showing the latest step in Sakamoto's fascinating artisanal process, is available now.

'BEHIND THE SCENE VOL.6: 'Time and Memories Expressed by Pottery Fragments':
https://shop.mu-mo.net/st/special/rsartboxproject2020/bts_review/

'BEHIND THE SCENE VOL.6' offers the world's first review of 'fragments, time,' Sakamoto's latest song, which is based on the sound of breaking pottery.

"I want to make a track that incorporates the sound of breaking pottery." Sakamoto's intention since the release of his 2017 album 'async,' and his vision is now being brought to life with the release of 'fragments, time' on '2020S'. The track includes the recording of handmade pottery plates, made especially for this project by Shingo Oka in the renowned pottery area of Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, and painted by Sakamoto himself. Sakamoto then recorded the sound as he smashed the plates at his home in New York.

The track features only the sound of pottery and piano. As the sound of breaking plates fills the silence, Sakamoto carefully joins the sounds together with his piano performance.

At this point, you might imagine that the sound of smashing pottery will be a harsh, forceful sound – but that is not the case. What you hear in this track is not a deafening racket but actually a rather soft and transparent sound. Each piece of pottery makes a different lingering sound as it breaks, and this "musical instrument" that Sakamoto has created plays free tones as the various shards collide randomly.

The '2020S' vinyl collection includes pieces Sakamoto writes for the soundtracks to director Kogonada's film 'After Yang' and director Ming-Liang Tsai's film 'Your Face,' 'BV,'' which Sakamoto wrote for a short film for luxury Italian fashion brand Bottega Veneta; 'Passage,' his song for Seattle-based non-profit organization MOR (Music of Remembrance); and 'Nekomura-san no Uta,' his theme song for TV Tokyo's drama miniseries 'Kyō no Nekomura-san.'

'2020S' is limited to 300 copies, available for preorder now from the special site below.

Ryuichi Sakamoto | Art Box Project 2020 '2020S'
Release date: Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Special site: https://shop.mu-mo.net/st/special/rsartboxproject2020/

■ About commmons: New Music Community for Real Artists and Music Lovers
'commmons' is a project established by Ryuichi Sakamoto together with Avex Group to explore new possibilities within music and its industry. With the slogan "think global, act local" and an ecological perspective, it is a new music community that aims to contribute to culture and society and to foster improved relationships between artists, creators, the music industry, consumers, and listeners. The extra letter "m" in the name "commons" reflects the hope that "music" will be ever-present at the center of the common space we share.

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