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Sam Gendel Uncovers the Emotion in Rei Harakami’s Work
When Lust was reissued for the second time, Carlos Niño was asked to write the liner notes. Having met Rei Harakami in Japan and being captivated by his music, he gladly accepted. He began writing after having a conversation with Sam Gendel. Here’s a brief excerpt from the beginning.
During our Japan tour in the fall of 2019, I asked Sam Gendel what he was listening to on his headphones. “Rei Harakami’s Lust,” he said. That moment took me back to 2010, when I toured Japan with Jesse Peterson and Dexter Story as Turn On The Sunlight. We had played alongside Rei in Kyoto, and just a few days later, on October 15, we shared the stage with him again at Unit in Tokyo. After I mentioned this to Sam, we delved into a long conversation about Rei.
From the liner notes of Rei Harakami’s Lust, reissued by “Rings” in 2023.
Carlos Niño pointed out that Rei Harakami’s music is “meditative yet dynamic,” while Sam Gendel described it as “emotional and empathetic” (*). He also mentioned, “You don’t often find that kind of emotion with other artists.” The active, dynamic energy and the emotion that they felt in Rei Harakami’s music were interpreted alongside a sense of meditation or melancholy. This likely made it feel particularly special.
Mercuric Dance stands as an album that conveys exactly that. It contains active and emotional elements that are not typically found in traditional ambient or environmental music. This perspective, I believe, connects to the later New Age revival and the rediscovery of Japanese environmental music. Carlos Niño and others have, of course, discovered Mercuric Dance as well.
Note from the author: From OTOTSU “Sam Gendel / inga 2016 Interview | Reflecting on Sam Gendel’s career, particularly during his time with the trio Inga” (opens an external website in Japanese)
