Keiji Haino, Shuta Hasunuma

𝙃𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. 𝙃𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙨. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙮-𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

Across the album, Keiji Haino’s instantly recognizable voice threads through Shuta Hasunuma’s layered soundscapes of analog synths, electric guitar, piano, and field recordings. Entering the studio with only lyrics in hand, Haino improvised his melodies in direct response to Hasunuma’s evolving arrangements, producing a work rooted in trust, intuition, and real-time tension.

Their creative connection first sparked in 2017 with an unplanned Shibuya performance—Hasunuma on a Buchla modular, Haino answering with a stark rendition of Japan’s national anthem. That encounter set the stage for a series of collaborations, including a 2018 appearance at Hasunuma’s “Music Today in Kyoto” and the first performance of "U　　　　　　　TA" in 2021 at WWW during the pandemic.

Recorded through a series of live sessions in Hasunuma’s private studio and Haino’s favored recording space, the album captures the immediacy of two artists meeting in the unknown. The result is an unclassifiable dialogue between voice and instrumentation, memory and improvisation—an elemental act of creation unfolding in the moment.