Hisato Higuchi: "Henzai"

For Henzai, Hisato Higuchi’s fourth album, the Japanese guitarist and vocalist leans a little further yet out of the spotlight. Even on his first EP, She, he was never one for demonstrative behavior, but Henzai’s improvisations and compositions often feel like they’re disappearing before your ears, beauty in search of a reflective surface it can hide behind. Tellingly, the difference between the five improvisations and seven compositions on Henzai often seems to be little more than a third chord, or three or four extra notes struck on the guitar — in Higuchi’s world, such shifts are seismic.