Album Image 1983 - 1998 by Susumu Yokota Review
This fascinating collection of wayward instrumentals reveals an entirely different side to this exceedingly talented experimentalist. Reaching as far back as 1983, Images draws on the most minimal of Yokota's decidedly minimalist canon, highlighting stark solo compositions that often subsist on nothing but a beautifully stated coda and some very pregnant pauses. With its carnivalesque strut and gauzy, distant tones, opener "Kaiten Mokuba" sets the languid pace; the impossibly delicate acoustic strains of "Tayutafu" follow and the broken-toy mangle of "Fukuro No Yume" comes after that. In accordance with the album's chronological sequence, Yokota's work becomes more intricate over time, but none of the tracks here ever veer from this album's implicit schema: deceptively simple melodies, Steve Reich-like repetition, and a penchant for organic, cloud-covered instrumentation. Intoxicating.Review by allmusic.com
