Asturias - Across The Ridge To Heaven (2018)

Japanese outfit ASTURIAS started out as the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and composer Yoh Ohyama. He started writing material for an album in 1987, and in 1988 the debut album Circle in the Forest was issued on King Records, one of the major record labels in Japan. The sophomore effort Brilliant Streams followed in 1990, and the third and eventually last installment in this series of solo albums were Cryptogam Illusion issued in 1993.

By this time Ohyama had received much praise for his albums as well as his live performances; and had established himself as a Japanese answer to - or version of - Mike Oldfield. However, despite the artistic merits of his work and the praise his creations received sales weren't satisfactory for his record label; and the Asturias project was put on hiatus.

In the following years Ohyama establishes himself as a well known independent composer, arranger, producer and recording engineer. However, the Asturias project isn't forgotten, and in 2003 Ohyama decides to ressurect it, this time as an acoustic quartet. Together with Yoshihiro Kawagoe (piano), Misa Kitatsuji (violin) and Kaori Tsutsui (clarinet, recorder) a new album is made, released in 2004 as Bird's Eye View.

The album explores a style of music more symphonic than the past efforts released under the Asturias moniker, and also gets a higher degree of attention. A direct result of the success is a new album, Marching Grass on the Hill, issued in 2006. On this creation Ohyama brings in one new musician; Ito Kyoko (violin); in place of Kitatsuji.

Following these two succesfull acoustic creations, Ohyama decides to create a solo album again, revisiting the Oldfield influences from the first three albums. With a plethora of guest musicians involved, this 4th solo album and 6th album issued using the Asturias moniker sees the light of day in 2008; named In Search of the Soul Trees. It is issued by Poseidon Records in Japan while legendary French label Musea Records has seen to it that the production is available in most other parts of the world.

When looking for more information on this artist; or trying to locate the various albums, one should note that the solo albums may be listed as Electric Asturias, while the band albums may be found sorted under Acoustic Asturias.