I’m at a loss what to classify the late, great Hideki Mitsumori’s 彩 Colours as. It’s obviously heavily indebted to world music and to all sorts of ethno-music flavors but it’s completely digital with no acoustic instrument in sight. Much like Apsaras, the previous band he led, keyboardist Hideki Mitsumori trades in Japanese New Age music that forgoes the more known, esoteric, minimalist side, for one decidedly more rhythmic, spiritually-heavy, transportive, and worldly in a way.
彩 Colours sounds rooted in global tantric, dance music. I hear the music of the Middle East in songs like “Tabu”. I hear the music of Africa in “Little Mountain Saint”. The title track sounds like some sonic electronic Silk Road journey from the East to Anatolia. “(A Man From) South Of Clouds”, which opens the album, mines territory explored by R. Carlos Nakai and the Wind Travelin’ Band, only to stumble upon something of a slightly Germanic flavor (some light motorik perhaps?).
Personally, I find this album fascinating for the mere organic sheen Hideki rings out of (if you look at the liner notes) a bunch of FM and PCM sample-based synthesizers/workstations. Taking advantage of microtonal things you can do with the DX7, Hideki approaches his arrangements with a brilliant fervor that tastefully tricks you into accepting the inorganic atmosphere. Liner notes seem to speak of this album dedicating itself to creating this music as a “present for children growing in sand and adults who will continue to travel forever”. It doesn’t strain one’s mind to think of this as an album created with a bit of heart-felt closeness.
When I created my “Earth” mix for NTS’ Japanese Healing Music series, this album was the album that inspired my take on this element in such an inorganic organic way. Just how much we can discredit something for not being “real” makes us lose our sense of what reality we can conjure from what we’re given.
Some Japanese reviewer, of this album, got it right. They stated how this might not be as a pronounced ethno-fusion work compared to the likes of Jon Hassell, but there is a very “fourth world” feeling that it exudes, simply by taking bits of sonic nostalgia and marrying them to a bit of humble spirituality. My only complaint is that Hideki Mitsumori had to self-release 彩 Colours, most likely robbing him of some necessary ears that could have stumbled upon this little-known gem of Japanese New Age music.
And now, in light of his recent passing, who knows if how long it’s going to be before Apsaras and 彩 (Colours) get their fair shake in this world. Heaven knows, though, this current one seems ever more receptive (and in tune) with what he was trying to accomplish.