This is Kobe-based Hirohito Ihara´s second album, having debuted eight years ago with Odori. In one way, Ihara reminds me of fellow countryman Fumio Yasuda, a pianist with one foot in pools of pop and the other the ocean of classical music, saturated with Romanticism, piano bar coolth, and skillful, melodic improvisation. But while a fine piano player, and tasteful indeed, Radicalfashion also applies Boolean logic to his instrument, digital interventions deftly integrated, enhancing and undermining expectations.
Electronics aside, Garçon is a testament to a pointed style that itself infuses each of his instrumentals with narrative. “Sequence for Tsuguharu Fujita” is a halting, seemingly very personal and intimate encounter with the work of the idiosyncratic painter. “Bone China”, delicate of course, sounds like it´s always been around, played in bars and at family gatherings, jerking happy tears. Shifting metier for just a moment, “A Ribbon Knot” is violin beset by virtual bees. “Miuccia Lyric” is sweet, petite but slightly drunk. The sprightly, Springtime-in-Paris piano primping of “Pointillism” is humourously underscored by not quite in sync handclapping, set on its proper, measured pace by Ihara´s disciplinary humming, albeit late in the piece.
The piano is underwater on “Egyptology”, while on shore scarabs dig in the sand and police siren harmonium ultimately disappears to reveal a sweeter piano just over that dune, just in time. “In Women” is an opus stretching over four-and-a-half New York minutes, beginning with a gentle turning of the autumn leaves, a little walk in the park, a brooding chess game, a longing gaze back over the shoulder. “To ´The September 13th´” finally resubmerges the piano, turning it spongey and organ-like, a smear of blue watercolours, a moody, reluctant goodbye.
http://flau.jp/releases/47.html
Stephen Fruitman
