Gothenburg-based Japanese musician Naoko Sakata has announced the release of her new piano solo album Dancing Spirits and it will be out on March 26, 2021 via Pomperipossa Records, a Swedish label led by artist Anna von Hausswolff.
Today she has also shared a first glimpse at the record with “Improvisation 3,” commenting: “When peace and chaos exists together, I feel like myself. I felt a strong connection with the music flowing in me.”
Listen to “Improvisation 3” below:
Naoko Sakata describes her approach to music as follows: “When I sit in front of the piano, I, as a person, disappear. My body becomes a conduit for expressing the music that I can hear in my head. There are no obstacles to its realisation and I don’t follow rules on how to make it happen. It is at the same time something natural and highly spiritual, sacred and wild, something that lives in a moment in time and only in that, before disappearing forever.”
Dancing Spirits was recorded during two days at Annedalskyrkan, a church in the Swedish city of Gothenburg that is home to both Sakata and von Hausswolff. The album was recorded and produced by Filip Leyman and consists of seven improvisations, played by Naoko Sakata and performed on a Steinway grand piano.
Dancing Spirits artwork (by Gianluca Grasselli) & tracklist:
1. Improvisation 1
2. Improvisation 2
3. Improvisation 3
4. Improvisation 4
5. Improvisation 5
6. Improvisation 6
7. Improvisation 7