Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto - 12 Conversations (2026)
This is beautiful.
It is also very easy to disappear inside it.
“Conversation 1” tells me almost everything immediately. A few piano notes. Digital interference. Silence. Resonance.
Nothing is forced.
That is the appeal.
“Conversation 2” and “Conversation 3” stay close to the same language, and at first I really enjoy how little they need.
The electronics are especially good because they do not sound added afterward. They seem to emerge from the decay of the piano itself.
But after twenty minutes, I start asking a different question.
How much is actually changing?
Not much.
“Conversation 4” and “Conversation 5” are still elegant, still carefully balanced, but the emotional temperature stays almost identical.
Fragile.
Reflective.
Suspended.
Beautiful.
Again.
That consistency becomes a problem.
“Conversation 6” introduces a little more tension, which I appreciate because the album badly needs some friction.
“Conversation 7” and “Conversation 8” continue to explore tiny differences in texture, but those differences require very close attention.
Sometimes that is rewarding.
Sometimes I just drift.
“Conversation 9” being split into five small parts helps.
It acknowledges the fragmentary nature of the material instead of trying to turn every idea into a complete composition.
I actually like those shorter pieces.
They appear.
They change something.
They disappear.
“Conversation 10” is skeletal enough to feel almost transitional.
Then “Conversation 11” interests me more.
There is slightly more space and, importantly, a different emotional colour.
Not dramatic.
Just a small opening.
That is probably my favorite because after so much suspension, even a subtle change feels significant.
“Conversation 12” closes the album quietly, without pretending this needs a grand conclusion.
Good choice.
The story behind the record is obviously powerful.
But I have to separate that from the music.
These are late Sakamoto recordings.
They were made with a collaborator who understood his language extremely well.
That makes them important.
It does not automatically make every fragment essential.
At seventy-three minutes, I hear too much continuity and not enough contrast.
I would absolutely return to individual sections.
The whole album is more difficult.
Delicate, intelligent and emotionally loaded without ever becoming sentimental. But too long and too uniform for me to love as much as I respect it.
Genre: Ambient
Country: Japan / Germany
Final Verdict: 66% (Good Album)
Yearly Ranking: 171th / 699
Highlight: Conversation 11
Made me think of:
Brian Eno
Jóhann Jóhannsson
Fenesz
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