Audiopile Review: A weird theory: when a serious artist gets goofy, it stinks, but when a goofy artist gets serious, it rules. Does anyone think ‘The Laughing Gnome’ is David Bowie’s best song? Or how about Bowie’s hero, the godlike Peter Hammill? As we’re sure you’ve noticed, his novelty single ‘Polaroid’ was levered onto North American versions of ‘pH7’ and… not the great man’s finest moment. But for the beauty of a big goofball getting down to serious business, let’s look at Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haruomi Hosono. Offbeat humour and puncturing of rock’n’roll cool were central to YMO’s mission. And Hosono’s extensive solo career is full of is-he-kidding-with-this moments. But when he’s charged with a serious job like composing a film soundtrack or creating background music for a stylish retail outlet… well, that’s when he does his best work. Take 1987’s ‘The Tale of Genji’. This is the soundtrack to an animated adaptation of an 11th century literary classic written by a Japanese noblewoman. Rising to the auspicious occasion, Hosono crafted one of his deepest, most purely beautiful collections of music. Mixing traditional Japanese instruments with ambient synths, these pieces are replete with gorgeous textures. But it’s the rich and complex melodic writing that impresses and surprises the most. This display of compositional virtuosity puts Hosono’s whole discography in a new light. He’s a genius and you must trust him, even when it sounds like he’s kidding you with this. Now, if we could only persuade Weird Al to finish that atonal chamber piece he’s been working on.

Originally released in 1987 as a film soundtrack, this expressly ambient work by the Japanese composer is based on the Gagaku style of ancient Japanese court music, but with a shimmer of tones created by one person using a computer. Unlike much of Hosono’s catalogue, here the synthesizer acts mostly as an atmospheric texture and instead focuses on traditional Japanese instruments, particularly koto, flute and drums. The truly striking aspect of this soundtrack is the layering of the instruments, which accumulate to the point of becoming unfamiliar: throngs of finger-beaten strings sound like a beehive of insects, waves of gentle hand percussion sound like the swell of inhalations and exhalations, the elaborate flute suggests the howl of the wind. Gatefold sleeve.