Hiroyuki Onogawa – August in the Water: Music for Film 1995-2005 LP
Sublime, ethereal minimalism: the first drawing together of Hiroyuki Onogawa’s soundtrack compositions, plotting a decade of music for films by cult filmmaker Gakuryū Ishii. Recommended for fans of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Music Interior, Kankyō Ongaku, etc.
The album August in the Water: Music for Film 1995-2005 plots a decade of Onogawa’s compositions for films by the renowned filmmaker Gakuryū Ishii (formally known as Sogo Ishii). Ishii’s left-field and trailblazing cinema has proven highly influential – Crazy Thunder Road (1980) is frequently cited as the starting pistol for the Japanese cyberpunk genre [1] – and unfathomably difficult to source outside of Japan. This, coupled with the mysterious and artistic nature of the films, has seen him build a cult-like following. Most of his oeuvre remains undistributed outside Japan, though Third Window Films has recently taken great strides toward making some titles available internationally.