Patrick Shiroishi - "how will we get back to life again?"

It’s so nice to hear new work from Patrick Shiroishi - saxophonist and member of Fuubutsushi and The Armed along with an ace collaborator with artists like Lake Mary and artists like Agriculture, Algiers, By Storm (Injury Reserve), Chepang, Jaye Jayle & Bonnie Prince Billy, Xiu Xiu, among many others.

For his latest solo work, Shiroishi describes his work “Shiroishi brings up Ma, the Japanese concept of negative space, or space in between.                                 . Ma refers to the notion of negative space as a positive entity, rather than an absence of something else. The pauses between notes are not empty vacuums void of substance, but rather are full and present, valid contributions to a balanced composition. “The title [I was too young to hear silence] kind of refers to when I was younger…I would fill all the space with as many notes and as loud of volume as I could,” Shiroishi explains. “Not saying that there’s any wrong way to play, but for me, after a while, I was confused with what I was trying to say.” There is a confidence to silence, an assuredness to pausing. Silence leaves room for contemplation after each note. Nothing is hidden. “This is an honest record,” he says.”

“how will we get back to life again? is the first “single” or segment taken from the album I was too young to hear silence which was recorded in one single improvised take. Like much of Shiroishi’s work the saxophone both the setting and the protagonist - breathy doubling work swoops around the audio field while a single melodic phrase makes it’s presence felt. Patrick Shiroishi is one of the most versatile saxophonists and voices bridging experimental approaches to the saxophone into a variety of sonic spaces through his collaborations.