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Taken Shadows

by Animul Records ANI 108

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1.
Animul Record ANI 108 - 01 Intimate Wish 19:13
info
2.
Animul Record ANI 108 - 02 Solid Angle 16:40
info
3.
Animul Record ANI 108 - 03 Lucy 06:49
lyrics
wrote this song for doggie which I was doing for dog sitting. Lucy healed my emortional feeling no matter what...

about

Since her arrival in New York at the end of the ‘90s, pianist Shoko Nagai has appeared in numerous
contexts. Of particular note is her superb improvisational duo Vortex, with percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. Her newest project, Taken Shadows, was premiered live at Roulette and it is the recording of that performance that appears here on CD.
The group includes guitarist Jonathan Goldberger, drummer Jim Black, electric bassist Stomu Takeishi and violinist Todd Reynolds. Nagai has assembled a great band that supports her work as both a pianist/ synthesizer player and as a composer. Not only do these players each bring a huge breadth of experience and technical ability to the table, they also gel musically as an ensemble in a deeply compelling way.
The album breaks the continuous performance into three tracks, demarcating transitions into new written sections. The music begins in a relatively calm statement of some melodic material, but quickly spirals into a robust mess of electronic sounds and careening rhythms. Things build and recede, each time organically entering into new beautiful textures. As the music builds again towards the second track, “Solid Angle”, some spirited free playing between Takeishi and Nagai (on piano at that moment) gradually settles into a groove—facilitated not by the entrance of the drums, but rather violin. It’s always nice when instruments are able to function in different roles and it makes the entrance of the drums at the top of “Solid Angle” all the more meaningful, freeing up Reynolds to lay out some beautiful soaring melismatic phrases. Goldberger then brings a blazing guitar solo, which again leads into some beautiful airy, open textures about five minutes in. Some of the most abstract free improvising is saved for the lead-in to the final track and the top of “LUCY” builds to the final melodic ideas—a ripping unison lick that jumps out and then hides again, revealing a piano cadenza, and then comes soaring back for the finale. Reviewed by Bruce Galander ( Downtown music Gallery NY)

credits

released August 22, 2020

Live at Roulette Brooklyn, NY March 10th 2014

Shoko Nagai (piano, moog, nintendo DS), Todd Reynolds (violin, electronics), Jonathan Goldberger ( guitar, electronics) Stomu Takeishi ( electric bass), Jim Black (drums

Enginner: Worramon Jamjod
Mixed : Satoshi Takeishi
Mastered: Nate Wood at Kerseboom Mastering
Design: Damian Olsen
Photography: Satoshi Takeishi
All compositions by Shoko Nagai (ASCAP) copyright 2014

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Shoko Nagai New York, New York

SHOKO NAGAI (Composer/ Pianist/ Accordionist/ Improviser)
Born in Nagoya, Japan, Shoko Nagai graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1999 she moved to New York City and quickly established herself in various scenes performing with such renowned artists as John Zorn, Butch Morris, Frank London, Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Satoshi Takeishi, Erik Friedlander, Elliot Sharp to name a few. ... more

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