The new album from Hiroki Tanaka, Kaigo Kioku Kyoku translates into "Caregiving Memory Songs" and that makes sense since it's the result of the musician's experiences serving as the caretaker for his grandmother with Alzheimer's, and uncle with terminal cancer. The record is an odd mix of warmth and glossy electronic textures, but it's one which succeeds at crafting a lingering mood.
"Bare Hallways" is haunting and elegiac, while "Eternal Host" builds until it erupts into the kind of melodic glory that recalls Rufus Wainwright. The clattering "Blue Eyed Doll" made me think of good old Rufus again, even if Hiroki Tanaka is more interested in the odd textural elements that underpin the hooks. Kaigo Kioku Kyoku is a record that's lush in a strange way, and austere in others. And however one approaches this one, a listener cannot but help and marvel at how this sounds, from the epic, sample-heavy "Snowdrops", to the yearning wail of closer "Utopia", one of the highlights here. And through it all, the heart of the musician behind this beats loudly, and that only adds to the quiet appeal of this record.
Kaigo Kioku Kyoku is out now.
More details on Hiroki Tanaka via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Maya Bankovic]