First Glances – Masayoshi Fujita
Stories is the first vibraphone solo album by Berlin-based Japanese artist Masayoshi Fujita , best known under his alter ego el fog , and for his internationally acclaimed collaboration Bird, Lake, Objects with Jan Jelinek . The record is mastered by Erased Tapes Record’s Nils Frahm .
Masayoshi Fujita’s style of solo vibraphone is uniquely inspired by classic and jazz music. In this beautiful album, in additional to some gorgeous strings and bowings, he also introduced some ingenious ideas in making unique sounds, like the usage of bead and aluminium foil on his vibraphone, like a prepared instrument. As such, Stories is a wonderful result of the beautiful vibration (of which the name Vibraphone came from) of all the delicate sounds produced in this album. They are poetic, they are melancholic, and they are lushly emotional.