Two Async pieces brought the theme of transience into painful clarity. On “Fullmoon,” author Paul Bowles, who died in 1999, is heard reading a passage from his novel The Sheltering Sky (the movie version of which Sakamoto scored). “Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really.” Friends of Sakamoto’s from all over the world then read out Bowles’ words, each in their own language. On “Life, Life,” the feeling is more radiant, a blend of defiance and acceptance. “I was, I am, and I will be/Life is a wonder of wonders,” intones David Sylvian, reading the words of Russian poet Arseny Tarkovsky.

Posted from : https://pitchfork.com/features/afterword/ryuichi-sakamotos-borderless-brilliance/