(2020) Akira Kosemura - True Mothers (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Review: An original soundtrack album created for award-winning director Naomi Kawase’s feature film, True Mothers should continue to solidify Akira Kosemura‘s reputation as a first-call candidate for future film projects. In addition to releasing solo artist albums, the Tokyo-based composer has branched out into other media realms too, from television (the Oprah Winfrey Network series Love Is__) to dance (the contemporary ballet piece MANON). Based on a novel by Japanese writer Mizuki Tsujimura, the film’s narrative concerns an adoptive relationship involving a couple incapable of having a child and a fourteen-year-old girl incapable of raising hers. While exposure to the film content would undoubtedly enhance one’s appreciation of the score, his soundtrack holds up perfectly well on its own terms. The album’s nineteen tracks—all but one written by him—are quintessential Kosemura, as melodic and elegant as anything else he’s created. Credited with piano, keyboards, electronics, and programming, he’s augmented on the recording by violinist Yui, violist Mariko Shimaoka, cellist Manami Inoue, clarinetist Saeko Kurokawa, and guitarist Muneki Takasaka (aka paniyolo). In keeping with the emotional swings of the story, Kosemura’s music alternates between episodes melancholy and uplifting, and in featuring ensemble and solo piano arrangements, the soundtrack offers as many expansive moments as intimate ones. Track titles offer hints of the narrative turns taken, with an air of uncertainty naturally permeating the piano-and-strings atmospherics of “The Doubt” and the penultimate “Please Don’t Ever Forget About Me” inviting speculation as to its meaning. True to soundtrack convention, many pieces are vignettes lasting between one to two minutes, though that doesn’t make them any less memorable. A small number recur two or three times and in doing so strengthen the soundtrack’s cohesiveness. One example is “Satoko and Kiyokazu,” a characteristically lovely neo-classical setting performed by the full ensemble of piano, strings, acoustic guitar, and clarinet. Kosemura’s musical identity is present throughout, especially when many pieces place the piano at the centre (e.g., “After Diagnosis”). The heartwarming “Go On Board,” introspective “Hikari II,” and the stirring, strings-drenched closer “True Mothers” are classic Kosemura, but much the same could be said of any number of pieces. Written by Clievy and Keen from C&K, “To the Forest” proves as haunting as a Kosemura original. With this soundtrack, he demonstrates once again his inexhaustible talent for producing high-quality melodic music. While the material on the release is all new, its character is consistent with his other releases and thus should do nothing but delight long-time admirers of his output.

Tracklist: 01 - True Mothers - Main Title Theme 02 - The Doubt 03 - After Diagnosis 04 - Satoko and Kiyokazu I 05 - Hikari I 06 - To the Forest 07 - First Time 08 - Hikari II 09 - Go On Board 10 - Our Home 11 - First Cry 12 - Satoko and Kiyokazu II 13 - True Mothers - Theme Variation 14 - Hikari III 15 - Island Song 16 - Asato's Memory 17 - See the Light of Day 18 - Please Don't Ever Forget About Me 19 - True Mothers

Media Report: Genre: ambient, classical Format: FLAC Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM Bit rate mode: Variable Channel(s): 2 channels Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz Bit depth: 16 bits