noble, launched in 2001 is welcoming its 10th year in the business and will be announcing its first compilation album, “Invisible Folklore” in celebration of this commemorative event. This is a concept album featuring all new tracks themed on “The logbook of Prince Takaoka”, the last novel written by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa and regarded as the acme of Japanese fantasy novels.
The story takes place in the mid-8th century, when Prince Takaoka and a servant set out on a journey headed to the holy land of Buddhism, India. The novel is comprised of seven chapters in which the traveling duo journey through bizarre and illusionary worlds in the many places they stop by on the way. noble has asked musicians with ties to the label as well as those which the label holds high regard for, to create a track, each artist for each chapter.
The sense of excitement as the two set off onto their journey is portrayed beautifully by Serph’s “departure”, followed by Eiko Ishibashi’s beautiful and enticing piano track “Ranbou,” the cute melody and kids chorus in Gutevolk’s “yummy dream”, KASHIWA Daisuke’s “Sky Liner” which welcomes vocal Piana combined with a human beat box doubled by skillful editing, kazumasa hashimoto’s “untitled poem114” which reflects the reverberation of piano and guitar on the lake in Yunnan, Ametsub’s “distress” in which the approaching sound of glitch noise and electronic sound amplify anxiety, and finally, the last track, “R.I.P.” by world’s end girlfriend, a long track lasting more than 10 minutes, sparking catharsis. The exquisite talent of seven musicians comes together in expressing a world of one novel. The jacket artwork is by nakaban, an artist who also releases films from noble.
“The logbook of Prince Takaoka” is a nobly written work of fantasy that portrays the path of Prince Takaoka’s travels with faithfulness and fiction, mixed together with dreams, humor, and eroticism. “Invisible Folklore” is noble’s first compilation and concept album that interprets this masterpiece of literature. A journey of sound told in 45 minutes by seven all-new tracks. The imagination is infinite.
noble |