Multi-artist Masayoshi Fujita, will release his new LP Migratory on September 6th, on Erased Tapes. Today he shares “Desonata,” which follows recent singles Our Mother’s Lights featuring Moor Mother and Valley.

Fujita on”Desonata”: “I remember when I tried to record the melody for this song. While improvising with the backing track, I was hearing a melody in my head and tried to play it, but somehow I kept hitting different notes than what I wanted. When I listened back, it gave me a strange feeling, but I liked its unique mood and the new image it evoked, so I decided to use it for the song.”

In 2020, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyōgo, three hours west of Kyoto.

Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).

Moor Mother asked Fujita to contribute vibraphone to her upcoming album, and in return lent her powerful voice to the Migratory’s centrepiece, ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ — “it carries a kind of African and Asian vibe, a perfect match for the energy of the piece,” he adds.

The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds, travelling somewhere between Africa, East Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath, and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.

Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots.”

Masayoshi’s parents too made a life abroad in Thailand for over 15 years. After returning to Japan, Fujita’s mother passed away in the beginning of 2023. So he invited his father to come for a visit, to spend time with him and his grandchildren. A lifelong musician in his own right, the two of them soon found themselves holed up in Kebi Bird Studio. Fujita senior had brought his saxophone, which he played on top of the then unfinished recordings, resulting in three new pieces. The slow jazz-tinged ‘Blue Rock Thrush’ stands out, with the saxophone and marimba.

Masayoshi Fujita
Migratory
Erased Tapes
Track List:

1. Tower of Cloud
2. Pale Purple
3. Blue Rock Thrush
4. Our Mother’s Lights (with Moor Mother)
5. Desonata
6. Ocean Flow
7. Distant Planet
8. In a Sunny Meadow
9. Higurashi (with Hatis Noit)
10. Valley
11. Yodaka

Pre-order Migratory HERE