Masayoshi Fujita

Composer Masayoshi Fujita creates unique sounds and textures using vibraphone, marimba, and electronics. He initially made glitchy, dubby music as El Fog, then gained more attention for his first collaboration with experimental electronic artist Jan Jelinek, 2010′s Bird, Lake, Objects. Fujita explored post-minimalism and modern classical with 2013′s Stories, his first solo album under his own name. He released further collaborations with Jelinek as well as Guy Andrews and continued releasing solo efforts inspired by nature and life experiences, including 2021′s Bird Ambience and 2024′s Migratory. Originally from Japan, Masayoshi Fujita spent much of his early career in Berlin, where he lived for 13 years. He first began releasing music as El Fog (short for “electronic fog”), which fused the vibraphone’s resonant textures with electronic processing and microscopic rhythms. Reverberate Slowly, El Fog’s debut album, appeared on Moteer in 2007, and the more beat-driven Rebuilding Vibes followed on flau in 2009 (the label later issued an expanded edition of the project’s debut). Fujita then worked with experimental techno producer Jan Jelinek, resulting in Bird, Lake, Objects, issued by Jelinek’s Faitiche imprint in 2010. Tesseract, a collaboration with Simon Harris, Derek Shirley, Jan Thoben, and Kassian Troyer, was issued by Home Normal in 2012. Fujita began making more acoustic-based music with 2013′s Stories, a flau-issued solo release that included cello by Arturo Martínez Steele and violin by Hoshiko Yamane (Tangerine Dream). Do You Know Otahiti? an EP featuring two live collaborations with Jelinek as well as solo pieces by Jelinek, appeared the same year. Fujita signed with Erased Tapes Records and released Apologues, a more expansively orchestrated solo effort, in 2015. The following year brought collaborations with techno producer Guy Andrews (Needle Six) and Jelinek (Schaum). The evocative Book of Life appeared in 2018, as well as a reissue of Stories. In 2021, after Fujita and his family relocated to a rural mountain village in Japan, he released Bird Ambience, a more experimental effort than his classical-influenced works, incorporating noisier textures into his compositions. He composed the music for the film Smoking Tigers, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2023. Migratory, a solo album featuring appearances by Moor Mother and Hatis Noit, was released in 2024. ~ Paul Simpson