Takuro Okada – The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line

Takuro Okada’s first album released outside of Japan, The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line arrives on Temporal Drift, an imprint well-known for their archival releases from legendary artists like Les Rallizes Dénudés and Hiroshi Yoshimura. While Okada’s previous albums have featured a cast of collaborators including Haruomi Hosono, Nels Cline, Sam Gendel, and Carlos Niño, his latest album showcases Okada as a solo musician on guitar with an array of instruments: pedal and lap steel, Korg MS-10, sampler, glockenspiel, toy piano, clarinet, bass harmonica, mandolin, percussion, among others. Okada’s range as an artist is on full display here with ethereal ambient guitar compositions (Following Morning) sitting comfortably alongside mellow folk-pop (Shadow), experimental noise (Reflections / Entering #2) and even something like LA contemporary spiritual jazz (Howllin Dog). It’s a perfect first introduction to American audiences for an artist that is sure to soon break through worldwide.

Recommended – Full Listen