Renowned experimental pianist/composer Akira Kosemura has released his new album, MIRAI. A video for the song "Ongaku," featuring a collaboration with Devendra Banhart, is streaming now. The clip was directed by the Emmy Award-winning Joel Kazuo Knoernschild in Tokyo and Los Angeles.
"I'm so honored to be in this film with Devendra-san," says Kosemura. "It's a very memorable film for my whole life."
WATCH "ONGAKU" OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FEAT. DEVENDRA BANHART
PURCHASE/STREAM MIRAI
MIRAI – or FUTURE in Japanese – marks the first-ever vocal project from Kosemura, widely hailed for his diverse, evolving body of work thus far and one of today’s most streamed Asian classical artists. The album features complex and challenging collaborations with seven notable singers, including Banhart, Mr. Hudson, Baths, Benjamin Gustafsson, Tom Adams, and Saro. Inspired by his experience as a father raising a young son, MIRAI sees the Tokyo-based Kosemura shifting his creative focus from his inner voices to crafting a message for future generations, uniting a variety of influences – from post-rock and neo-classical to electronica and film soundtracks – with his one-of-a-kind musicality and the sound of such Asian traditional instruments as dilruba, erhu, shakuhachi, koto, shamisen, and many others.
The album was initially heralded with the track "Autumn Moon,” featuring vocals by Miyuki Hatakeyama and lyrics taken from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, a classical Japanese anthology of 100 Japanese waka by a hundred different poets. The second single released was "Secai," which is a song that incorporates field recordings of the Naga people of northwestern Myanmar.
Earlier this month, Kosemura released “Always You (Feat. Mr Hudson),” the third single from the album, which features Mr Hudson's vocals on a trap-style beat and Kosemura's flowing piano. Mr Hudson is a singer-songwriter/producer who made a guest appearance on Jay-Z's "Young Forever" in 2010, which reached the top 10 in the US. He has collaborated with Miley Cyrus, DJ Snake, to name a few, and has also produced The 1975, Duran Duran, Frank Ocean, and others. He won a Grammy Award for producing John Legend's Bigger Love in 2020. Mr Hudson and Kosemura previously collaborated on John Legend's "The Other Ones feat. Rhapsody," which sampled Kosemura's "Asymptote" in 2022.
LISTEN TO "ALWAYS YOU (FEAT. MR HUDSON)"
LISTEN TO "AUTUMN MOON (FEAT. MIYUKI HATAKEYAMA)"
LISTEN TO “SECAI”
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Since making his recorded debut in 2007, Akira Kosemura has garnered worldwide applause for his versatility, invention, and a diverse portfolio spanning solo albums and compositions for films, TV drama, games, stage, and commercial music. Among his most noteworthy works to date are collaborations with John Legend and Devendra Banhart, scores for such projects as director Naomi Kawase's True Mothers (featured at both the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film festival), the OWN dramas series Love Is__, Nintendo Switch’ Jack Jeanne (produced by renowned manga artist Sui Ishida), and the 2025 anime series Honey Lemon Soda, and his critically acclaimed 2023 solo piano album, Seasons. Now, with the breathtaking MIRAI, Akira Kosemura makes perhaps his most fantastic statement thus far, taking listeners on his captivating journey to the utopia of music.
# # # AKIRA KOSEMURA MIRAI (Decca Records) |
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