The Daily Spin, January 23
Ryuichi Sakamoto | 12
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: 12 (2023)
Artist: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Link:
At its core, 12 is an elegy.
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s multiple cancer diagnoses have left the artist in a state of never knowing when his terminus might be - and as such, he’s made strides to leave his legacy behind in as excellent a state as possible.
12 is a remarkable step in that direction, setting favorably a series of short etudes set for piano and synth, titled by date, laid in order. It is simplistic and heartbreaking in the most earnest fashion, alternating raw and polished in equal turn, building atmosphere both through the beautiful music winding around you and the faint, struggling breathing over certain tracks, almost as though you can hear Sakamoto hunched at his piano.
It may be an elegy, but what a beautiful way to illustrate your exit.
Rating: 8.1/10
Best Tracks: 20210310
Worst Tracks: 20220302