theAdelaidean: UTSURU (Live at Knock Koenji, Tokyo, 2025) (Digital)

Product Description UTSURU 1. TOKORO (Live at Knock Koenji, Tokyo, 2025) 25:15 2. TOKORO Rehearsal (Live at Tokyo University, Tokyo, 2025) 44:54 3. TOKORO Reflected (Live at Australia House, Niigata, 2025) 30:18 4. TOKORO Excerpt (Live at Knock Koenji, Tokyo, 2025) 05:18 Recorded on a cool, wet night in Tokyo, this performance by theAdelaidean (aka #1 New York Times-bestselling author Sean Williams) weaves the many threads of his May release Tokoro into one sonic tapestry of electronic pulses, elusive melodies and layered ambient textures. A review of Tokoro by Rich Dodgin from This is Darkness: “The latest album from theAdelaidean blends subtle field recordings and minimalistic synths and electronics to provide an immersive aural portrait of life in Japan. The music here is dreamlike, otherworldly, with a sense of wonder and beauty running through it. Listening to the music is a soothing and reflective experience, and this is one of those beautiful albums that deserves to be listened to on headphones, with no distractions, so that the music can be savoured. Outstanding!” The opportunity to perform this expansive work (the Tokoro album spans over three hours) in front of a live audience while in Japan was irresistible. TheAdelaidean performed on the opening night of Naviar Record’s second tour of Japan on the same bill as sound artist Nukomori Eugene and ambient superstar Chihei Hatakeyama in the intimate space of Jun Kitamura’s Knock Koenji. Recomposing Tokoro for a much shorter length of time without sacrificing too many of its layers upon layers of ambient textures was a considerable creative challenge, one met through weeks of iteration and experimentation, creating a living document of theAdelaidean’s final months in Japan. Also included is a rehearsal that lasts twice as long, a subsequent iteration composed one month later in Australia House at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, and a short excerpt for curators. The title Unsure comes from the title of one of the cornerstone tracks from Tokoro: “Cherry Blossom Petals Falling / Forever / Shinjuku Billboard.” This haiku, translated into Japanese by Hugh Nettelbeck, with oversight by Shimauchi Ran and Rosemary Dean, reads:

散る桜 永遠に映る 看板よ The characters 映る in the second line, or “utsuru” in romaji, mean “reflected”, which seems fitting for an album capturing the multi-layered immersion that is life in Tokyo.
 With additional thanks to Marco Sebastiano, Jun Kitamura and Michael Williams from the Knock Koenji event; Sugai Ken for the use of his field recordings; Yoko Arakawa, Sumie-san, Takeuchi-san and Kobayashi-san at Australia House; and Bec Allen, Hitomi Toku and Janine Pitt of the Australian Embassy Tokyo.  Projekt release: July 18 2025