I am delighted to announce the upcoming release of a new EP, Sea of Fertility, featuring my singer friend Chako of Jack or Jive.

To be released on Aug. 6, the EP consists of one piece, the 20-minute title track. My parts were recorded in one day in August 2015, with a few brush strokes added this past week. Chako’s stunning vocal part was recorded in Spring 2016, at her home studio in Japan.

So… why the long delay before release?

This piece was planned as the conclusion of a four-track album of the same name, inspired by Yukio Mishima’s famous tetralogy of novels. This piece was to reflect the tetralogy’s nihilistic conclusion, The Decay of the Angel.

But the album never really came together, and the time came to let it go and release this track on its own.

Chako, whom I discovered through Jack or Jive’s 2005 album Mei-Jyu with Alio Die, on the Projekt label, has long been one of my favorite singers, with a rare melodic gift. It has been a dream of mine for years to work with her on a track.

Chako’s understated yet impassioned, fully-committed performance entirely captures the moods I was seeking, and raises this piece’s intensity to match that of the personal requiem Like a Riven Cloud from the album The Separate Ones. I am honored to have worked with her (and husband/bandmate/co-producer Makoto) on this project.

I chose the release date (the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima Atrocity) for its powerful historical and thematic significance.

You can hear a five-minute preview of Sea of Fertility now at my Bandcamp page. I hope you enjoy it!