Masahiro Takemoto - The Moments Captured (2017)

THE MOMENTS CAPTURED - PRODUCTION NOTE
Well then, where to begin? It’s been two years since I’ve released anything and I felt it was about time. Not just because of the number of years that’ve passed... It's more like there was something inside of me that wanted to come out, and this was the right time for it. After "Platinum Wunderland" was released in 2012 with Echolocation, I felt like I released everything I could at the time. It’s not that I couldn’t still produce tracks, but I felt I couldn’t create anything new or surprising… at least for a while.

Of course, between 2012 and 2015, some of my tracks were released as part of compilations, soundtracks, collaborations, etc., but most of those had been written before 2012. At that time, all I needed to do was add a touch of creative problem solving and tweak the tracks; I was more of a "producer" in a sense. It was a fun and stimulating experience, but if you think about it, writing a soundtrack is about creating what works for the film--what the director wants to express. Collaboration sort of works in a similar way: Will this track suit the singer’s voice or the soloist’s style? While I enjoyed the challenge during that period, I realized I hadn’t had the chance to simply express myself for some time.


Which brings us to the new album. If you’ve read this far you might have guessed that this is a very personal album. You could call it my second "desert island mix" in a way. Every track I write is special to me, but there are some tracks that I keep to myself for a long time--like 10 years. It's not that I didn’t want to share, but those tracks didn’t “have a place” yet, so to speak. And so they sat on my hard drive. Then, early this year when Peacelounge asked me if I have any material for an album and I answered yes. That said, I was little nervous sending those half-done demos, but a few days later, Peaceounge replied: "it's got some kind of magic to it, let's do this." So I started re-selecting the tracks and editing them. However, the process took much longer than expected; just going through and listening to each project file on my hard drive took me weeks, and I still had to select the tracks for the album and edit them. In fact, it began to seem it might've been much easier to write the whole album from the scratch. But I told myself, "the tracks are good, so give up convention and just make it work.”


The thing is that these tracks span a period of 10 years, so they were quite different from each other in terms of genre and texture. Nevertheless, each one reflects the special moment around which it was written, and you don't want to tear that down from the core--otherwise the song dies. So I set out working around the core concept of what I wanted this album to be and modified the tracks, leaving the heart of each untouched. What has resulted is an album that is more "me" than anything I’ve released so far. If you’ve ever listened to "desert island mix,” you'll know what I mean and understand this album much better.

Anyway, thank you for reading and again, I hope you’ll listen to the album when it’s released and feel something special about it. I don't know what’s next, but there’s always plenty of material piling up on my hard drive... So until next time.

Tracklist:
01. Masahiro Takemoto - Turquoise
02. Masahiro Takemoto - Blanche
03. Masahiro Takemoto - Down the Rabbit Hole
04. Masahiro Takemoto - On the Prowl
05. Masahiro Takemoto - Sigma
06. Masahiro Takemoto - The Woman of Purple
07. Masahiro Takemoto - Day Dream and Ice Cream
08. Masahiro Takemoto - Stakeout Mission
09. Masahiro Takemoto - Fairweather Affair
10. Masahiro Takemoto - December
11. Masahiro Takemoto - Crushed Velvet and a Half-Finished Martini
12. Masahiro Takemoto - Farewell