For Immediate Release – Minneapolis, MN – Japanese composer Asuka Kakitani releases her solo-percussion album, Twelve Months in Minnesota, inspired by nature in Minnesota on June 30th, 2023. Described as “[a] musical impressionist and supreme colorist” by Hot House Magazine, Kakitani’s deep love for nature inspires her to transform her vision into musical stories. Her mostly-programmatic music results from the inspiration evoked by her surroundings interweaved with her perspectives and imagination.
The album consists of twelve pieces representing every month of the year performed by virtuosic Twin-cities-based percussionist Eri Isomura. The album opens with a marimba solo piece, November, in which Kakitani invokes a scene of dancing sprites. June, another solo marimba piece subtitled Shiny Wet Green, portrays the fresh green in the month of June. In September, Kakitani emulates the sound of raindrops with bongos, log drums, and woodblocks, and a long superball rub on bass drums evokes the sound of melting ice in March. In April and December, listeners can experience Isomura’s virtuosic marimba skills, and in January, subtitled White Big Evil, Kakitani depicts Minnesota’s severe winter with tom and bass drums emulating Japanese taiko drums. In August: So Quiet, Kakitani imagines the middle of a hot day in August when no one is on the streets. The single vibraphone piece on the album, July: Lost in the Deep Woods, is entirely bowed, and in it, Kakitani expresses her fondness for nearby woods. There are also three lovely short improvisations (February, October, and May ) by Isomura using triangles, clay pots, and kalimba. |
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