Mark Barrott - Johatsu - LP

At the start of 2019, I realised that I needed a new challenge musically. After 20 years of releasing my own music and running the record label I founded, International Feel, I felt the strong urge to do something completely different and stretch my creativity in different directions. Not quite knowing what form this would take, I decided to cast my net into the wider musical world and see what the tide brought back in. By spring 2019, I found myself with a number of interesting offers, from co-producing an album for South African artist Themba, to working with a leading fashion designer and creative thinker on his musical vision, making soundscapes for cruise ships and a number of productions and remixes for house and techno DJ’s (as a ghost I travel… in-between worlds). The volume of work became so intense and by the end of 2019 I developed RSI and needed to take a break. It was during this winter solstice that I received an offer to soundtrack a Japanese documentary entitled ‘Johatsu…The Art of Evaporation’. This appealed to me on many levels beyond the musical; the more I look at modern society, the more I desire this for myself…to vanish, gracefully, from being asked for an opinion, from social media, and of course it is often the goal of every musician to write to picture. The joy of music for me falls into two distinct categories - the magic of creation itself, and then the magic of connection that comes from sharing that initial, thunderclap moment, where all of a sudden (and often, totally out of the blue), something new emerges, something that didn’t exist a second before. These days I try, whenever possible, to write like a Japanese calligrapher - prepare the room, the ink and paper, and then make the act of creation as spontaneous as possible. Despite having written for TV and adverts in the past, this was my first fully commissioned work to picture and I was amazed at the speed and fluency at which the music poured out of me. It was extremely liberating to compose in this manner, focusing on atmosphere and melody, without the conventions of modern electronic music structure, and I progressed at a fast pace. Then came Covid, and work on the documentary ground to a halt. Disappointing though this was, I moved on to new projects. It wasn’t until early 2022 when I revisited and re-listened to the pieces as a full body of work, that I felt compelled to release it (my contract allowed for release should the documentary remain unreleased at the end of 2021. At this stage I have no idea if it will ever see the light of day). The tracks on this album are the ‘full’ pieces - those written for the longer sequences of film. Many of the shorter cues that make up the entire soundtrack wouldn’t work in this release format, although I may release them at some point in the future as a series of vignettes. Regardless of its origins, this is the music I wish to make and the emotions and atmosphere I wish to capture and share - perhaps the ideal of living simply with kindness, grace and gratitude. I hope that this achieves that connection with you.

Side A :
Kyoto ? / Shinrin-Yoku ? / Icarus ? / Kill All Ghosts ?

Side B :
Luck ? / Yonige-Ya ? / One Friday In September 9? / Kamikakushi