438Hz As It Is, As You Are - Tomoyoshi Date (2022)
Ideated from: a favorite album that starts with a “4”
This is a fascinating high concept project: Date found himself with access to a very old hand-made piano that was nearly impossible to tune to modern standards. He ended up tuning it according to the strings that were mechanically impossible to change. He further let the tuning degrade and adjust as he recorded over time, letting the aging of the materials in the old piano dictate the tunings. This is the “As it is” part.
In addition, you hear the pieces each piece twice: one sped up, the equivalent of playing a record at 45 rpm, and the other slowed down to the equivalent of 33 rpm. The digital version contains each tune both ways, but of course if you buy the vinyl (as was originally intended, I’d imagine) you can just change the speed yourself to affect what you’re hearing. “As you are.” you see?
The ultra-chill piano lines weave with very subtle additions like birdsong and chimes. The space that opens up in the slower versions adds some really interesting resonance from the old piano that you don’t always hear on the faster version, but it’s all extremely beautiful.
