Batoh, Masaki

***We come from nowhere and fade back there again, leaving the foggy dreams and obscure anxieties of this life behind when we go. Life is enigma, and with great respect for the vagaries of this truth, MASAKI BATHOH's Nowhere reaches out of the darkness, with strings of steel and voices echoing out of time. In the summer of 2018, Masaki Batoh held sessions at GOK Sound in Tokyo, with the goal of making his fourth solo album. With a pure folk singer approach, he started the recordings as a basic live performance of guitar with vocal, using only two mics. If more elements were needed, they would be added—but most important to him was to capture the performance as immediately as possible. GOK Sound is an all-analog recording facility, and once Batoh had added a few elements such as bass, percussion, harmony vocals, electric guitar, harp and a bit of mellotron (all played by himself in response to his basic performances) and added the necessary reverb, the world of Nowhere was rendered as deep and sparkling as he had hoped, consecrating the spiritual intentions of his songs.