Name: Late Spring
Brand: Chihei Hatakeyama

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

GB1565CDOBI

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2021-05-28

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

The Orchard

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

4571524500124

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Chihei Hatakeyama

Genre GB

Electronic

Label GB

Gearbox

Chihei Hatakeyama is a musician and organizer from Tokyo. He has been performing for many years under his own name and as part of the duo Opitope. Starting out playing guitar in rock bands, he later transitioned to using a laptop computer as his main instrument. Hatakeyama creates beautiful soundscapes by combining recorded acoustic instruments like guitars, vibraphone, and piano with electronic processing. His debut album Minima Moralia was released by Kranky in 2006.

Gearbox is a British independent label founded in 2009 by Darrel Sheinman. Based in London and Tokyo, Gearbox releases new music by contemporary artists as well as previously-unreleased archival recordings. They are well known for their jazz releases, including the "BBC Jazz For Moderns" series taken from jazz programmes on the BBC. The label also has a series called Japanese Editions featuring legendary performances at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London.

In addition to their record releases, Gearbox operates a mastering studio located at Tileyard Studios in King's Cross, London. Equipped with vintage analog equipment, including a 1967 Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex amplifiers, they offer high-quality lacquer cutting and mastering services. The studio also provides direct-to-disc or tape recording using the adjacent recording studio.

For its own releases, Gearbox Records collaborates with Optimal Media GmbH. Known engineers associated with the label include Darrel Sheinman (Daz), Caspar Sutton-Jones (caspar@gearbox), Cicely Balston (2013-2016), Carla Iannace (since 2021 - carla@gearbox), and Kristina Rhodes (2021-2023). The studio is credited on releases as Gearbox Records Studio or Gearbox Recording.

Japanese musician Chihei Hatakeyama releases his new album, Late Spring. His debut on Gearbox Records, it gently unfolds as a shared journeying experience through a series of rich and outstanding encounters. From the cathedral organ-like opener ‘Breaking Dawn’ with its sub-aqua resonances, to the subtle drift of the closing track 'Twilight Sea’, this record is a masterpiece of dense and beatific melodies. Drawn from evolving synthesised sounds and shimmering slow motion guitars, it combines these with occasional sonic elements that are best described as evoking computer code running through the veins of the machines like artificial blood. Inspired by the beauty in circular motions of landscape and the changes of season lying beneath ordinary everyday life (as shown in the work of renowned Japanese film director Yasujirō Ozu with whose 1949 film the album shares a title), ‘Late Spring’ is arranged to project the impression of an old film. The concept behind circular movement came to Hatakeyama as he was watching “Twin Peaks - The Return”, directed by David Lynch.

Late Spring

Music GB

Discover Late Spring by Chihei Hatakeyama on Gearbox Records. This masterpiece of dense melodies is available in CD and LP formats.