async
Ryuichi Sakamoto 2017 isolated
ambient Sound Art Electroacoustic
A soundtrack for an unmade Tarkovsky film — Sakamoto's post-cancer masterpiece where deconstructed piano, field recordings, and electronic textures create a meditation on impermanence that feels like hearing time dissolve.
Acoustic Profile
Production
Method: hybrid
Fidelity: polished
deconstructed piano and organ recordingsfield recordings layered with electronic manipulationTarkovsky-inspired sonic architecturedeliberate asynchrony between musical elementsrain and environmental sound as compositional material
Vocal
Approach: instrumental
Lyrical Abstraction: 10/10
Mood & Theme
melancholy vulnerability wonder serenity
Territory: Mortality, Sonic Decay, time-dissolution, Post-Illness Reflection
Emotional Arc: Fractured Beauty Accepting Impermanence
Era & Context
Created after Sakamoto's throat cancer diagnosis and treatment. The album imagines a soundtrack for an unmade Tarkovsky film — a deeply personal meditation on mortality that transcends genre categories. Released into a music landscape dominated by streaming pop, it existed in its own temporal dimension.
Spiritual Links (21)
Ambient 1: Music for Airports Brian Eno (1978)
7/10 minimalist-reductiontextural-exploration
Alina Arvo Pärt (1999)
7/10 minimalist-reductiontextural-exploration
Préludes, Book I Claude Debussy (1910)
7/10 textural-explorationminimalist-reduction
( ) Sigur Ros (2002)
6/10 minimalist-reductionnature-mysticism
Livro Caetano Veloso (1997)
6/10 electronic-orchestral-fusiontextural-exploration
Tabula Rasa Arvo Pärt (1984)
6/10 minimalist-reductionspiritual-seeking
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune Claude Debussy (1894)
6/10 textural-explorationminimalist-reduction
All Melody Nils Frahm (2018)
6/10 sonic-experimentationstudio-as-instrument
Felt Nils Frahm (2011)
6/10 minimalist-reductionsonic-experimentation
Different Trains Steve Reich (1988)
6/10 sonic-experimentationpersonal-confession
Geogaddi Boards of Canada (2002)
5/10 textural-explorationnature-mysticism
Kid A Radiohead (2000)
5/10 electronic-orchestral-fusiontechnological-anxiety
Third Portishead (2008)
5/10 sonic-experimentationminimalist-reduction
Journey in Satchidananda Alice Coltrane (1971)
5/10 spiritual-seekingnature-mysticism
Savane Ali Farka Touré (2006)
5/10 minimalist-reductionnature-mysticism
The Blue Notebooks Max Richter (2004)
5/10 minimalist-reductionvulnerability-as-weapon
Koyaanisqatsi Philip Glass (1982)
5/10 sonic-experimentationnature-mysticism
Symphony of Psalms Igor Stravinsky (1930)
5/10 minimalist-reductionspiritual-seeking
Untrue Burial (2007)
4/10 urban-isolationtextural-exploration
The Fragile Nine Inch Nails (1999)
4/10 vulnerability-as-weapontextural-exploration
A Love Supreme John Coltrane (1965)
4/10 spiritual-seekingpersonal-confession
Influences
Absorbed from
Similar Albums (Cross-Artist)
1
Préludes, Book I Claude Debussy (1910)
79% 2 In a Silent Way Miles Davis (1969)
79% 3 Ghosts I-IV Nine Inch Nails (2008)
78% 4 Tabula Rasa Arvo Pärt (1984)
78% 5 Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks Brian Eno (1983)
75% 6 Conversations with Myself Bill Evans (1963)
75% 7 Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune Claude Debussy (1894)
72% 8 Sketches of Spain Miles Davis (1960)
70% 9 Journey in Satchidananda Alice Coltrane (1971)
70% 10 Speak Like a Child Herbie Hancock (1968)
70%