Eiko Ishibashi glows through the ashes on Antigone

thefader.com:

“Ashes fall in August / In October, the blood shines,” Eiko Ishibashi sings in Japanese near the end of “October,” the opening track from Antigone. “Covered with ashes, long winter / Spring is yet to come,” she begins on the following track, “Coma.” Her new album is named for the tragic Sophocles heroine, sentenced to be buried alive after attempting to give her brother a proper burial against the orders of the king; across its songs, one can find grim observations like these, sung serenely over layers of lush instrumentation.

Antigone is Ishibashi’s first songs-based record since 2018’s The Dream My Bones Dream, an astounding sound world inspired by her father’s death.

Like that project, Antigone is a fully immersive experience, pulling the listener down complex emotional currents so gently one hardly notices they’re being taken.

In the interim, the Japanese composer, keyboardist, and singer-songwriter has released several instrumental albums, including two scores for the films of Ryūsuke Hamaguchi.