6 Things to Know About Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Album async

Sakamoto waited eight years between solo albums His 2017 album async followed Out of Noise (2009) by a full eight years.

The album was inspired by his cancer diagnosis Sakamoto composed async after recovering from throat cancer, which shaped its meditative and fragmented sound.

It features field recordings and found sounds Tracks include recordings of footsteps, rain, and a piano damaged by the 2011 tsunami.

The title means “asynchronous” Sakamoto chose the name to reflect the album’s non-linear, disconnected structure.

It was originally conceived as a soundtrack The album was initially planned for a film adaptation of Paul Bowles’s novel The Sheltering Sky, but the project fell through.

Sakamoto considered it his final statement He described async as a potential last album, though he later released 2023’s 12 before his death.