You Ishihara – Passivité

An album that’s been seemingly lost to time, You Ishihara’s solo debut was a victim of schedule and circumstance, slipping between the cracks of fan expectations and press attention. The record was released at the tail end of White Heaven’s career, before he’d begun his next outing with The Stars. Unmoored from any expectations associated with White Heaven, Ishihara lets the focus expand on Passivité. While there are moments that reach the heaviness of both The Stars and White Heaven, the album also revels in low-slung sound that stretches between narcotized VU burners and psych-folk’s edges. Strums contort into fuzz and Ishihara takes on an enigmatic presence over the din, swaying in thrall to the vibrations that shudder throughout the record.

Maybe the eclecticism is what tanked it originally, with listeners not knowing what to expect and not ready for the jolt that flowed from the speakers, but with the steady hand of Black Editions behind it on reissue, it’s apparent that Passivité is an important link between Ishihara’s past and present. The record brings in its fair share of luminaries from the Japanese underground, roping in White Heaven’s Michio Kurihara on guitar and rounding out the group with Chiyo Kemekawa (Yura Yura Teikoku) on bass, and Koji Shimura (Acid Mothers Temple) on drums. The assembled players turn Ishihara’s solo rumination into a beautiful deluge of sounds, a record soaked in night and unsettled by its own ambitions. The feeling culminates on the nearly 15-minute second side standout “Nightwalker,” a heavy-hitting track even among Ishihara’s vast catalog. Far more would become familiar with Ishihara through his more widely known groups, but this is an excellent entry to his darkness as well, and a necessary re-visit made possible by the indispensable Black Editions Group.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.