Ryuichi Sakamoto obviously doesn’t feel he has to start his shows off with a bang. In fact, once the lights went down, leaving the audience in near darkness, it was a good five minutes before the man himself appeared. During this time, there was only the faintest whirring and humming of a very ambient backing track to indicate the performance had actually started.
As the first piece developed, Sakamoto twanged the strings inside his imposing grand piano to produce a series of atmospheric buzzes and vibrations. This went on for some time, eventually prompting my companion to whisper, “Is he playing it or tuning it?”
Always unconventional, Sakamoto is a legendary composer, producer and performer who began his career as a groundbreaking synth-pop musician in his native Japan before going on to more avant garde material, of which Friday’s show was a perfect example.
Showcasing two new albums, Playing The Piano – primarily stripped-down versions of earlier material – and Out Of Noise, which is more experimental, his minimalist compositions were accompanied by a series of bleeps, blips and seemingly random vocal samples.
While frequently beautiful and unquestionably accomplished, much of Sakamoto’s music was a little too subtle, ambient and enigmatic to completely win over an intrigued but ultimately rather underwhelmed audience.
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