Atarashiki Hikari / 新しき光 by haruka nakamura (official)

A year beyond the 10th-anniversary reissue of his second album 'twilight’, haruka nakamura shares and reflects on one of his most important compositions, ‘Hikari’ (Light), which was born out of the original album sessions.

At the beginning of 2010, nakamura was going through a difficult time while recording the album, having to endure the unbearable grief of the sudden passing of his mentor and dear friend, Jun Seba, also known in the underground hip-hop community as the legendary nujabes. nakamura’s passion for music, which was first ignited by nujabes’ huge influence on him, began to burn out due to this tragedy, and at some point even contemplated giving up on making music.

Over time, it wasn’t until some musical exchanges over letter-long emails with Singapore-based April Lee of ASPIDISTRAFLY, who was recording the vocals for the song ‘twilight’ with him, trading audio files and spreading warmth from across the sea; nakamura found solace in Lee’s comforting words. Through mutual inspiration and a desire to “turn back time”, it led him to explore reversing the completed track of ‘twilight’ instinctively to juxtapose a new “dawn”. Unexpectedly, a miraculous thing happened - nakamura likens the experience of hearing the backward track for the first time to a beaming “light of hope”, feeling a sense of rejuvenation coming from a kaleidoscope of newfound sound and melody which weaves through his emotions in glorious splendor. “The sound is so spiritual and alive; it moved me” as he recounts this chanced but profound single encounter that enlivened his spirit. nakamura came back, gradually returning fully armed with his deep-rooted love of making music again and the song ‘Hikari’ was created.

The concept of playing ‘Hikari’ (and pieces from the album’ twilight’) live gave birth to the formation of the haruka nakamura PIANO ENSEMBLE, which has been the artist’s lifeworks for several years between 2011 - 2017. The hymn-like chorale which first unveiled itself It culminated in the album of the same name, ‘Hikari’, in the ensemble’s final recording. ‘Hikari’ became one of the most representative songs in nakamura’s artistic endeavour.

Several variations of ‘Hikari’ exist in haruka nakamura’s repertoire. Previously unreleased rearrangements ‘Atarashiki Hikari’ (A New Light) and ‘Mirai’ (Future) feature ASPIDISTRAFLY’s April Lee on vocals and strings recorded from the premiere of the live version of ‘Hikari’ at Tokyo’s Waseda Scott Hall in 2011. A lost piano solo piece recorded during that period, ‘Hitotsu’ (Oneness), was also revived as the closing piece of the five-track digital EP specially compiled by nakamura which also includes the original versions of ‘Hikari’ and ‘twilight’. Drifting on its wash of healing sounds, the EP conveys a message that the artist intends to share. nakamura hopes this collection of songs will find its way into the inner spaces of the listener’s soul, just as it did for him - channeling renewed peace and an optimistic vision in this era of uncertainty and shaken normalities.

haruka nakamura is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Tokyo, Japan. While growing up in the snowy hills of Aomori, haruka learned to play piano and guitar on his own.

In 2020, he released “still life” as his first Mute PIANO SOLO album.(toudai label).

He also has worked with LUCA as “arca”. They will release their new album in 2020 from KITCHEN. LABEL.

harukanakamura.com