ju sei with Utah Kawasaki / Masahiko Okura / Michael Thieke

ju sei is the song duo of sei (vocals) and Junichiro Tanaka (guitar). Together with Utah Kawasaki, ju sei released the 2-CD set „U as in Utah“ (meenna-997) on Ftarri in 2014. „Live at Ftarri Festival 2015,“ ju sei’s second CD release on Ftarri, documents the entirety of their performance at the Ftarri Festival held in Tokyo on November 21 and 22, 2015. The sort of musical creation and structure that highlight the two musicians‘ exquisite, original musical sensibility are alive and well here, too. Utah Kawasaki (electronics), Masahiko Okura (contrabass clarinet), and Berlin-based clarinetist Michael Thieke also participate, adding even more color and richness.

The performance (31 minutes, 46 seconds) is relatively quiet throughout. The calm and melodious short piece „Utsuke“ is played at the beginning and end of the set, and in between is the long work „Ne.“ Although the pieces are composed, they have a wittily improvisational quality that is rich and bold. The vocal and instrumental timbres, including moments of silence and extremely high volume, crisscross the length and breadth of the compositional and improvisational space.