A Japanese jazz / progressive trio, Flat 122 consists of Takao Kawasaki (piano, keyboards), Satoshi Hirata (guitar) and Kiyotaka Tanabe (drums & percussions) with Kagerou marking their second album to date, the first being The Wave back in 2007. The press release accompanying this album describes it as being "progressive jazz rock somewhere between Gong, Side Steps, Erik Satie, Pat Metheny, The Enid and King Crimson" which is pretty much as accurate as you could ask for. Laid back and funky jazz prog, and at times seemingly discordant in approach, the compositions are largely instrumental albeit with the occasional ambient vocal interlude ("Sterra Lee Jones"). The absence of a bassist seems a strange choice and would potentially add more depth to the material which is complex in approach and both atmospheric and adventurous in nature. In addition to the new material, Kagerou adds an eleven minute live version of the debut albums title track which evidences their ability to reproduce the intricacies of their material in the live setting.
Accelerations of mood changes and subtle displays of different techniques highlight the individual contributions of each of the trio and Flat 122 can be added to the list of virtuoso musicians that have emerged from Japan over the past few years.
Track Listing
Circle Of Sound (1:19),
On The Hill (2:45),
Clouds (8:05),
Panorama 2 (4:17),
Sterra Lee Jones (7:56),
Improvisation (3:38),
Remembrance (7:07),
Matsukura Snow [visual] (1:18),
Matsukura Snow [story] (12:19),
Kagerou (10:49),
The Breeze (2:54),
The Wave [Live] (10:58)
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