Description
#shinsukehonda #vinyl #vinylrecords
In 1983, Shinsuke Honda, a masterful guitarist and composer, released ‘silence = サイレンス (夕映え)’, a contemplative collection of guitar instrumentals under Apollon Music industrial corp’s sublabel, alty. Now, Studio Mule, a sub-label of Mule Musiq, presents the first official digital reissue of this rare and evocative album.
Honda-san’s journey from Hiroshima to Tokyo, from member of folk-rock group Hachimitsu Pie to film and television soundtrack composer, culminated in a record deal with alty at a time when new age and kankyō ongaku (environmental music) were becoming commercially viable. The result was an album that collapsed time and space, blending childhood memories of rock instrumentals with an adult appreciation for jazz, minimalism, electric blues, and soundtrack composition.
Despite a successful career in soundtrack work, scoring films such as ‘Target of Lust’ (1979), ‘Koichiro Uno’s Shell Competition’ (1980), and ‘Moonlight Whispers’ (1999), and composing theme music for the Fuji TV travel program ‘Kazemakase Shin Shokoku Manyuuki’, Honda-San’s early work remained largely obscure until recently rediscovered by record diggers Tsunaki Kadowaki and Diego Olivas.
Now, 40 years after its original release, Mule Musiq and Studio Mule are delighted to contribute to the critical re-evaluation of ‘silence = サイレンス (夕映え)’ as an essential album for aficionados of ECM contemporary jazz, steel-string blues, and balearic guitar bliss. This reissue invites a new generation of listeners to be transported to an eternal sunset of the mind, tinted with nostalgia, longing, and a gentle sadness at the impermanence of all things.
