Nanaco Sato Photo credit: Meisa Fujishiro
The Big Takeover is proud to premiere inimitable and borderless Japanese poet and singer-songwriter Nanaco Sato’s song “Lust – Love Underground,” recorded in 1996.
Having sat in her closet for 29 years, the album Lust is now set for release on September 25 via London analog specialists Gearbox Records (Knats, Art Blakey, Robin Katz, Liza Lo, Elliot Galvin). Recorded across 1996-97 at Maison Rouge, the album captures not only Sato’s truly eclectic nature but also a snapshot of spontaneous, jam-session recordings that feature a vast array of estimable musicians such as Danny Cummings (Dire Straits), Brinsley Ford (AZWAD), Dan Boutwood (Iannello), James Denham (Addict), Charles Price (Scissor Men), and many more.
Tracks here span everything from abstract jazz vocals (“Love Trip”), Tibetan folk (“The Sorrow Of The Wind”), and psychedelic pop (“Mad Memories”) to global rhythms (“Angel Whispers Midnight”), avant-rock (“A Dirge For Coral”), undulating sitars (“Never Ending Love Letter”), funk-rock workouts (“Hell’s Bloom”), and beyond. It’s a record that defies categorization, and speaks to both Sato’s prolific and explorative musical career, as well as the unconstrained way in which it was conceived.
Born in Tokyo in 1955, Nanaco Sato’s unique, coquettish hushed voice saw her become a pioneer of the Shibuya-kei movement (an eclectic Japanese pop microgenre from the mid-to-late 1990s, originating in Tokyo’s Shibuya district). A fount of creativity, Sato has been releasing music for over 45-years with a discography that has seen her work with the likes of Nippon Columbia, EMI Japan, and Bella Union, collaborating with Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymond, who produced her 1998 album Luminous Love in 2023. Further collaborations also saw Sato work with the likes of Japanese luminaries such as Moonriders, Kazuhiko Kato, and Pizzicato Five, the latter of which she had a worldwide hit with “Twiggy Twiggy.”
In addition to her ongoing musical career, Sato is also a skilled photographer and filmmaker, having lived in Paris for 5 years making short films, she also studied film making at New York University. She has worked for numerous musical publications, and created artwork for other artists. Ever the renaissance woman, she has also scored and soundtracked several films including work by Japanese director Shiro Maeda and more.
Sato tells The Big Takeover:
“The album Lust was recorded in 1996, when my favourite musicians gathered together at Matrix Maison Rouge Studios in London.
I brought with me a collection of poems I had written.
I would choose one depending on my mood that day, show it to everyone, briefly explain what I wanted to express, and then we would record through improvisational sessions.
The very first song that came out of this process was Lust – Love Underground.
Guitarist Dan Boutwood began playing the intro, and then Charlie Price on drums, James Denham on bass, and Susumu Osada on guitar joined in.
Everyone’s grooves came together, creating a huge, surging wave of sound.
Because this was the very first thing we created together, I immediately knew: Ah! These musicians are absolutely amazing.
The lyrics of this song are very simple:
The couple on the underground
Heading to their lust
Intoxicating noises of love spinning deep down
Can you hear them?
Can you hear them?
I wrote these words from the atmosphere I felt around me at the time of the recording, in 1996.
And somehow, I feel that they resonate even more strongly in our time today.
Amidst all the different noises of the world, I can still feel the sounds of human love and desire — sounds that cannot simply be drowned out.
This is the title track of the album.
I would be very happy if you would take the time to listen to it.”
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