‘Opus’, the final posthumous album from Ryuichi Sakamoto, the late Japanese composer, is set for release on August 9 courtesy of Milan Records. The 20-track record, which will be available in Dolby Atmos, comprises of compositions made during Sakamoto’s last concert, which took place in Tokyo in 2022, one year before his death. The video for ‘Tong Poo’, which is the first single released from the album, is available now, with the track having first debuted on Yellow Magic Orchestra’s 1978 album before being transformed into a downtempo piano piece.
Sakamoto’s son, Neo Sora, filmed the composer’s final ever performances at his legendary NHK 509 Studio in Tokyo across multiple sessions due to his father’s ill health. Using footage from the occasion, Sora created a documentary bearing the same name as the album, which premiered on The Criterion Channel in June and is still available to stream.
The album features newly released tracks, ‘BB’, ‘for Jóhann’, and ‘20180219 (w/prepared piano)’, in addition to previously unheard recordings. Sakamoto said of the project, “conceived as a way to record my performances while I was still able to perform, in a way that is worth preserving for the future…Simply playing a few songs a day with a lot of concentration was all I could muster at this point in my life.”
Check out the complete tracklist and the album’s artwork below and pre-order the album here.
Tracklist:
1. Lack of Love
2. BB
3. Andata
4. Solitude
5. for Jóhann
6. Aubade 2020
7. Ichimei – small happiness
8. Mizu no Naka no Bagatelle
9. Bibo no Aozora
10. Aqua
11. Tong Poo
12. The Wuthering Heights
13. 20220302 – sarabande
14. The Sheltering Sky
15. 20180219 (w/prepared piano)
16. The Last Emperor
17. Trioon
18. Happy End
19. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
20. Opus – ending
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