Yui Onodera - 1982 (2024) [Hi-Res]

For those encountering Yui Onodera's work for the first time, the opening track of 1982 ("1982 I") might give you the impression of a playful and jumpy record. However, the second track, "1982 II" sets a new tone, and the album continues to explore an array of emotive soundscapes.

There's good reason. Onodera explains, in his own words: "I stayed in Iwate, where I was born, for a few days and created some sound materials using limited materials and old media. Over ten years ago, Iwate was devastated by the Great East Japan earthquake. Many old things that remained in my memory became rubble, dismantled, and new scenery was there." Knowing the context of Onodera's ravaged hometown, the painful associations with memory and loss are easily felt. "1982 IV" is a wander through a wasteland, with hopeful synth loops rained on by scratches of real-life drudgery. Its predecessor, "1982 III," skips merrily through the abrasiveness, adding more weight and character to the more downtrodden "IV" in comparison.

"1982 V" means to stand you atop rubble and new growth alike with cinematic torpor, slowly removing pulling you from sadness and settling into understanding. "1982 VI" returns to a childlike innocence. After all, this is where Onodera played, laughed, grew and experienced the beginning of life. Reminiscence so often precedes sadness and vice versa, and 1982 does not shy from that.

So goes a cosmic record filled with electro dalliances of guitar, piano and found sounds, teetering playfully and painfully on the brink of collapse while emerging triumphantly from time to time to remind the listener that amongst the memory rubble we can see a future lined with demonstrable, organic lessons. It is no surprise that Onodera appears on a recent Ryuichi Sakamoto tribute compilation. Ondera's belief of "the raw and the processed" displays a remarkable understanding of where ambient music originated and where it's going, not unlike the hometown he found growing through ruins. © Jeffery Laughlin

Tracklist:
01. Yui Onodera - 1982 I (01:25)
02. Yui Onodera - 1982 II (04:02)
03. Yui Onodera - 1982 III (01:42)
04. Yui Onodera - 1982 IV (05:44)
05. Yui Onodera - 1982 V (02:29)
06. Yui Onodera - 1982 VI (02:12)
07. Yui Onodera - 1982 VII (04:09)
08. Yui Onodera - 1982 VIII (01:23)
09. Yui Onodera - 1982 IX (07:18)
10. Yui Onodera - 1982 X (03:56)