Susumu Yokota - Mother

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 1 / 3 / 2009

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I first came across Susumu Yokota a few years ago while I was perusing the shelves in Fopp records. There was a whole section dedicated to the Japanese artist’s output, displaying a large selection of the 16 or so albums he had released at the time (this new record brings him up to 20, and that’s just under the name Susumu Yokota. There are many more under Yokota, Ringo, Ebi, Animu Mundi, and others). What first struck me about Yokota’s albums was the artwork, in particular his 2001 release, 'Grinning Cat', which is plain black except for a white circle in the top right-hand corner. I bought the album simply because I liked the artwork, and when I listened to it, despite having never heard of Susumu Yokota before, I wasn’t at all surprised by what I heard. The artwork perfectly depicted the sound of the album; sparse, arresting, beautiful. Interestingly, I later discovered that Yokota does his own artwork for his albums. 'Mother', Yokota’s newest work, is a little more dense in sound than 'Grinning Cat', but that’s hardly surprising given the amount of time and other releases that have passed between those two albums. This latest one features a group of guest vocalists carefully selected to compliment Yokota’s ambient Electronica. Mother features contributions from Efterklang’s Casper Clausen, Our Broken Garden’s Anna Bronsted, Caroline Ross and Claire Hope and Panos Ghikas of the Chap. Much of the backing vocals are performed by Japanese vocalist Kaori. Most prominent on the album is Wigan-based singer-songwriter Nancy Elizabeth, who performs vocal duties on five of the record’s thirteen tracks. These include album highlights ‘A Flower White’ and ’12 Days 12 Nights’. Other stand-out tracks include album opener ‘Love Tendrilises’, featuring Casper Clausen and Anna Bronsted; ‘Meltwater’, featuring Caroline Ross, and ‘Tree Surgeon’ featuring Kaori and members of The Chap. 'Mother' is an album which will certainly satisfy any fans of Susumu Yokota’s past works, containing his signature ambient electronica sound fused with influences coming from the alt. folk artists he has picked to work with. If you haven’t heard Yokota’s music before, then fans of Sigur Ros and Efterklang will do well to pick up this record, as well as anyone who likes their electronic music laid back, but somehow still exciting.

Track Listing:-

1 Love Tendrilises
2 Breeze
3 A Ray of Light
4 A Flower White
5 The Natural Process
6 Reflect Mind
7 Inside ForesightedVo
8 Meltwater
9 Tree Surgeon
10 Suture
11 Bonda
12 12 Days 12 Nights
13 Warmth

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