New great LP by Juntaro, continuing his wild experimentations. This one has been influenced by a 1930s children's novel called Gauche The Cellist written by - overlooked during his lifetime - author Kenji Miyazawa. It has been adapted into an anime film by the unsurpassable Isao Takahata, and I haven't seen but now I must. The overall concept is that there is a mediocre cellist struggling to be accepted into his town's orchestra and he gets to improve with the aid of animals that speak to him and instruct him how to play. Juntaro recorded it using as his only instrument the hapi drum (a melodic percussive instrument which I was collecting money to buy years ago but I never did) and other outside sounds like cicadas, frogs, birds. The sounds are actually very soothing, with the hapi being barely heard at times, and the nature sounds being calming and entrancing. Certainly nothing we would expect from Juntaro, but highly recommended.
2019 tape release on Cav Empt, this is the 2020 LP rerelease by The Trilogy Tapes.