In Another

Description

On his sixth album, *In Another*, Toronto-based Japanese musician and composer Masahiro Takahashi continues the collaborative expansion of his sonic universe, begun on his 2023 album *Humid Sun*. He surrounds himself here with a rotating ensemble of ten guest artists from the Toronto music scene, including his labelmate Joseph Shabason, who also serves as co-producer and sound engineer. Inspired by his long-standing admiration for chamber pop, from the High Llamas and Free Design to the Beach Boys, Takahashi moves away from the processes of his two previous albums, setting aside Ableton sequences in favor of melodic scores, prioritizing above all the creation of solid melodic and harmonic foundations. This difference is immediately perceptible: the album opens with a dialogue between upright piano and plucked double bass of such sweetness and transparency that one can hear the musicians' breath.