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CD Feature/ Shunsuke Mizuno: "Slow Time"

  Tobias

„Sitting still. Doing nothing. Winter’s coming. Snow will fall of his own accord.“ With this little reinterpretation of one of Basho’s haikus all could have been said. The recent album „Slow time“ (Ozella Music) by Japanese double-bass-player Shunsuke Mizuno is a beautiful piece of self-composed contempory Asian music celebrating the beauty of backpedalling and taking breath.

Mizuno’s play is very restrained, most of the tender sound dots are painted by guests musicians. For example Miwa Inaba on a bright 22-string koto and Keisuke Doi on Shakuhachi. And yes, this record is like a painting – wonderfully harmonising with the sleeve photography of German artist Dave Lubek. These eleven songs seem like lotus-blossoms brought by snowbirds from a place that no man can reach. But on their way to the listener, they also absorbed quiet urban fragrance and mercuriality. Chikara Tsuzuki’s harmonica on „Cosmos“ blows like autumn wind through scantily crowded streets  - sitting in a quiet cafe at the harbour – waiting for...well...winter?

Mizuno (and his friends) created a wonderfully quiet and refreshingly unobtrusive record with the fragility of a culm. A shining, bright piece in the murky sea of a baiting and chasing time. A musical island for taking a breath. For sitting still. For doing nothing. For letting go. 

Homepage: Ozella Music