Double LP import
A deluxe, expanded reissue of Moon Beams by Tokyo visionaries, Tsuki No Wa.
First time vinyl edition of the third record by Tokyo's Tsuki No Wa, a small collective with rich pedigree, led by vocalist Fuminosuke and featuring members of both Ghost and Shintaro Sakamoto's band, alongside guest contributions from Yoshihide Otomo and Ami Yoshida. The combination of such esteemed players and adventurous minds forms a markedly sophisticated collection of songs that move between jazz, folk, bossanova, muted electronics and a Japanese-inflected version of chanson. And make no mistake, these are a group of impressively virtuoso players and inventive arrangers. Given its original release date, you could view Moon Beams in the context of other broadminded 'post-rock' groups of the time like Gastr del Sol, The Sea and Cake and, in the remarkable 11 minute centre-piece 'I'm Wandering Cowboy', even echoes of Movietone at their most sprawling and bouyant. Flattering comparisons of course, though I can't help feeling they overlook the distinctive voice Tsuki No Wa were crafting here, which is very much their own and, if the recording wasn't so high-end and it had arrived a few decades earlier, might have been a contender for NWW infamy such is it's determined sense of self. Remarkable, really, to think that music this impressively conceived and released at a time when it was becoming easier than ever to share ideas, should have remained so hidden from view. A fool he who thinks he knows it all (always a he to be fair).
