A wiser person than me once said: serit arbores, quae alteri saeclo prosint or he that plants trees, loves others beside himself. It’s a saying that would later gain life as the old adage, “Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.” I’m thinking of that phrase specifically because I’ve been blessed with something special. I’ve received a wonderful work by Shinsuke Honda, his 渓流 (Keiryuu), that he once thought would never see the light of day but that he’s chosen to share with me (and I with you).
Shinsuke Honda’s 渓流 (Keiryuu) came to light over a decade in 2010. Back then, Shinsuke uncovered a series of tapes and demos he meant to edit down and/or serve as a followup to his debut album, 1983’s Silence.
Catching him at a salient point in his career, at a crossroads, trying to decide whether he wanted to continue to be a rock’n’roller or explore further this new realm of ambient jazz and healing music. In Keiryuu (渓流) you find Shinsuke diving, metaphorically-speaking, headfirst into many of the more overtly electronic and minimalist music that would inspire future releases, like 1991’s Banka.
Songs like opening track “渓流 (Mountain Stream)” share the Floydian ambient rock first toyed with on Silence. Others like “日の出 (Sunrise)” and “落葉 (Falling Leaves)” give equal thrift to all sorts of wandering electronics, touching on the seaswept soundscapes of Banka and The Sound Of Blue.
Only now can we go back and see (or more specifically, hear) how Shinsuke was trying to touch the same nerve American jazz artists like Pat Metheny were with his “heartland jazz”. Tracks like “日没 (Stream)” and “見果てぬ夢 (An Unfinished Dream)” point to a promise unfulfilled by Japanese record labels who didn’t know what to do with it on their shores. 37 years later…long after Shinsuke lost the guitar he wrote this album with…the music remains just as revelatory as it once was meant to be.
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