YOU ISHIHARA – Passivit (Deluxe Reissue) – LP – Vinyl [MAR 14]

LP – Indies Exclusive Black Vinyl. Deluxe LP housed in metallic silver tip-on jacket with gloss film laminate finish, matte pigment stamping and two printed inner sleeves.

When it was first released in 1997, White Heaven founder You Ishiharas solo debut Passivit seemed to vanish into the ether, going largely unnoticed; the scant coverage it did receive in the Japanese music press was confused or even dismissive and it hardly reached an overseas audience in that moment just before the online music era. It was released by the short-lived Japanese Creativeman Disc label, which also produced albums by other luminaries of the Japanese underground, including Phew, Otomo Yoshihide, Taku Sugimoto, C.C.C.C. and Ground-Zero. Yet, even in that eclectic company, Ishiharas album stood apart in a world all its own, out of time in that, or any other, era.

Passivit arrived at a pivotal point in Ishiharas career, just as White Heaven dissolved and before the formation of his next group, The Stars. To realize the album, he recruited a choice group of players, including Michio Kurihara (White Heaven) on guitar, Chiyo Kemekawa (Yura Yura Teikoku) on bass, and Koji Shimura (Acid Mothers Temple) on drums, arranging them in no less than five configurations. The result revealed an expansive creative and even conceptual vision that could only find expression outside the band context. In the twenty-odd years since, the album has found adherents who, like P.S.F. Records founder Hideo Ikeezumi, praised its tremendous depth and discovered that they experienced something new each time they listened to it. Listening back today, Passivit sounds timeless and, in a sense, encapsulates the concepts, feeling, and brilliance that have marked the near 50-year career of one of the key figures in Japanese underground music.

Passivit is an entrancingly beautiful album that draws from rock and psychedelic music, the sounds of 60s America as well as elements of jazz, bossa nova, soul, and even electronic music. Its an enigmatic late-night meditation that unfolds in a cool darkness pierced by scattered flashes of light and heat. The albums opening tracks K and Nachbild, as well as the second sides nearly 15-minute Nightwalker, slowly float in the night, quietly seductive, stripped down, and soulful. Even as Ishihara seems to surrender to these nocturnal atmospheres, he cuts to songs that erupt with urgent energy, overdriven fuzz guitars, and even dives into an electronic excursion recorded 18 years before. Through all of this, there is a clarity and cohesion of vision. On Passivit, Ishihara both embraces and departs from his work with White Heaven. The music is deeply personal and intimate even as it operates on a conceptual level with a masterful nuance and subtlety.

Black Editions presents Passivit for the first time on vinyl in a meticulously remastered deluxe edition, including metallic silver tip-on jacket with gloss film laminate finish, matte pigment stamping, two inserts with liner notes in Japanese and English newly written by renowned music critic and editor Masato Matsumura (Studio Voice, Tokion) and the original notes by Shinji Shibayama (Nagisa Ni Te, Hallelujahs, Org Records).

Uncut March 2025 – 8/10 review – “a psych-rock maestro”.

Tracklist:

A1. K (7:44)
A2. Nachbild (5:40)
A3. Immortal Nothing Blues (5:44)
A4. Crevice (3:45)

B1. Wednesday (3:54)
B2. Nightwalker (14:40)
B3. For You (2:32

All songs written, arranged by You Ishihara

You Ishihara – Vocals, Guitar all tracks except B3, Vocals, Organ
Michio Kurihara – Guitar (A1, A3, A4, B1, B2)
Chiyo Kamekawa – Bass (A1, A4, B1, B2)
Koji Shimura – Drums (A4, B1, B2)
Yojiro Nagano – Synthesizer (B3)
Ken Ishihara – Drums (B3)