Nobukazu Takemura immediately reveals that he has retained his sense of wonder, evident in the unexpected turns of his melodies, unpredictable vocal passages, and unconventional instrumentation in his electroacoustic arrangements. This idiosyncrasy aroused the interest of Yo La Tengo and Steve Reich in the 1990s, and he has since collaborated with and produced remixes for a long list of artists.
In »Ephemeral Radiant« – arguably the centrepiece of Knot of Meanings, his first album in ten years – piano melodies float above an ethereal soundscape. These are accompanied by synthetic cello sounds, electronic jingles, and bouncing vibraphone motifs. Finding your bearings here is not easy – but that’s probably not what the visual artist, who has been living in Berlin since 2008, is aiming for. He is interested in wonder, and in moments of musical surprise in a tightly scheduled world. Having grown up with punk, jazz and hip-hop, he bases his tracks on the idea of rekindling the spark of inspiration that modernity has lost in electronic music.
