New Horizon

New Horizon
Album by Tak Matsumoto
Released	April 30, 2014 July 8, 2014
Genre	Instrumental, Rock, Jazz
Label	Vermillion Records House Of Strings 335 Records
Producer	Tak Matsumoto

The promo image of Tak distributed with the announcement for the album's release. The album was titled New Horizon as it is a work in which Tak wanted to explore new avenues he had not yet taken in his musical career.

The special vinyl set that was announced as being available in an extremely limited quantity of only 300 copies. This special edition is only available to those that purchase the album and redeem the special offer card inside prior to the deadline.

Tak on the cover of Japan Jazz magazine. His reputation as a jazz musician had its roots in his 2010 collaboration with Larry Carlton, TAKE YOUR PICK.

New Horizon is the tenth studio album by Tak Matsumoto, set to be released on April 30, 2014. As with Tak's previous album Strings Of My Soul, the album is also scheduled for an international release at a later date and will again be produced by Tak alongside 335 Records' Paul Brown. The cover of the album and various promotional materials feature Tak's new signature Gibson Firebird guitar.

The theme of the album was to explore arenas that Tak had not yet experienced in his musical career thus far. Unlike with the oriental-themed Hana and hard rock release of DRAGON FROM THE WEST, New Horizon sees Tak journey more into the jazz style he began cultivating in his 2010 and 2012 releases. In addition to highlighting guitar in ways he had not previously, the album also features solos for various other instruments, all of which were played freeform. Tak described the album as containing more variety than his past works, with the general makeup of the album being quite different to the rest of his catalogue. As with his previous release, the album features a vocal song in addition to its variety of instrumental offerings with American soul singer Wendy Moten as guest performer. The lyrics to the song, titled "Feel like a woman tonite", were again written by Dax Reynosa who had done the lyrics for "Live Life" on Strings Of My Soul.

The only tie-in promotion for the album came with the title song "New Horizon" being featured in a series of Sagawa Express commercials. Tak met with the producers of the television spots, viewed the footage of the commercial, and chose a section of the song he felt most suited the project from those he had recorded. In an additional promotional campaign offer announced on April 18, 2014, it was revealed that copies of the album would come packaged with a special card that could be redeemed to earn a chance to win one of 300 specially-pressed vinyl editions of the album.

The album is set to be supported by his first true solo tour, Tak Matsumoto LIVE 2014 -New Horizon-. The tour, which will tour from May to June of 2014, will feature new and old support members for the shows, including Yoshinobu Ohga, who has worked with both Tak in his solo efforts as well as numerous recent B'z live outings.

Production and information

According to an interview in Be With! Volume 101, work on the songs that would eventually find their way onto the album began sometime in 2012. However, due to commitments stemming from the 25th anniversary for B'z and the subsequent tour, Tak put the album on hold temporarily. While the work's songs were composed over a period of roughly two years, actual production on the album began in December 2013 and was completed quickly in only a matter of months.

Tak explored a great number of ideas for the album. Initially, he wasn't sure what type of tracks to include on the work, as recounted in Be With!:

“

"Be it self-composed songs or cover songs, I tried out a lot of ideas, but they were lacking my personal sense of direction—where I wanted to go with it. I really pondered over it for quite a while until our 25th anniversary came up, but I thought I'd consider it more while on the road. By the time the 25th anniversary tour ended, I still hadn't come to a decision. After November's EX THEATER ROPPONGI show, I went back into the studio and thought I'd give up on it for the time being if I didn't come up with something. I wondered about what I should do, so I tried getting the songs I'd come up with into shape and, if I couldn't bring everything together, I said to myself I would give up on it for now.

”

For the release, Tak hadn't considered a collaboration with another artist unlike in 2010 or with an orchestra as in 2004. This was a work he intended to begin a new chapter of his career after his previous album's retrospective status serving to allow him to move on to new endeavors. After the B'z tour finished and he was entirely free, Tak had a small window of time with which to decide how the project would go:

“

After the EX THEATER ROPPONGI show, it became about how much I could put together in two weeks. I was able to package everything together in such a way that I was content with going ahead with producing and recording the album. The schedule for the solo tour was already set, but I was thinking, "If I can't get this together now, we'll have to cancel everything." It was almost like if I couldn't get it all together in those two weeks in December, I would have to go to the office and tell everyone, "Maybe no solo project after all..." (laughs)

”

Tak again entrusted Paul Brown from 335 Records, the record label of friend and colleague Larry Carlton who would be releasing the album overseas, with advising aspects of the production. This time around, Brown was involved in the mixing process, as well as with selecting and ordering tracks for the Western release and also introduced Tak to many of the support musicians that make appearances on the album. Additional production was also carried out by 335 Records' president, Robert Williams, as had also been the case on Strings Of My Soul.

In a number of instances throughout the album, Tak played with not just a guitar pick but utilized only his fingers as well. Additionally, Tak repeated that he recorded the guitar parts for the album the same way as he does during B'z sessions: for each song, he would continuously play a given melody over and over with different guitars until he found the one that was most suitable for the song in question. He noted while he's seen others that spend hours and even days attempting to find the right tone, he generally reaches that point quite quickly and decides, "This is it" early on and goes with it. Tak likewise reiterated that his aim with the album was the same as his goal with all of his work, which was to create the kind of music he would like to listen to himself.

The release of the album was promoted prior to making it to store shelves in a number of different avenues, including television, internet coverage, magazine featurettes, and radio appearances. On April 21, Tak appeared on Tokyo FM to discuss the album and his career, during which album tracks "Gakuseigai no Kissaten", "New Horizon", and "Feel like a woman tonite" were previewed at length for the first time.

While no music videos were filmed for the release, two brief television commercials for "New Horizon" and "Rain" began airing in the weeks leading up to the album's release.

Track listing

All music composed by and guitar performed by Tak Matsumoto unless otherwise noted.

1. New Horizon

   Brand new title song for the album that was used as the theme song for a series of Sagawa Express television commercials.

2. Take 5

   An updated cover of the revered Jazz masterpiece previously covered by Tak on his very first studio album Thousand Wave in 1988.

3. Feel like a woman tonite

   An all-new vocal song featuring American soul singer Wendy Moten with lyrics penned by Dax Reynosa, who had previously been credited with writing the lyrics to "Live Life" on Strings Of My Soul. Unlike then when his American representatives at 335 Records requested he add a vocal song to the album specifically, Tak anticipated they would wish for one this time around as well and prepared such a song in advance. He reported being very pleased with the result. Unlike with "Life Life", however, Tak did not meet with Moten to record the vocals, instead leaving it to his co-producer Paul Brown, who asked if Tak would like a male or female for the untitled composition Tak had prepared. Tak wanted a female vocalist for the vocal effort on his previous album originally, so he asserted it should be a woman this time around.

4. Rodeo Blues

   The first song that materialized for the album, "Rodeo Blues" entered base recording in 2012 and was the first song that Tak toyed with for the album. However, he could only satisfactorily complete one chorus before shelving it temporarily. He continued thinking that it would eventually result in a good song, and in December 2013 when earnest recording began anew in Tokyo, the song was completed in full. The musical style exhibited in the song was one of the specific sorts that Tak aimed to include on the album from the beginning.

5. Island of peace

   The song begins with the sound of waves on a beach, followed by the guitar slowly fading in. The titular "Island of peace" refers to Hawaii, where the song was written. Interestingly, while portions of the guitar part are played with a pick, others Tak played with only his fingers.

6. That's Cool
7. Shattered Glass
8. Tsuki no Akari — Light of the Moon, 月のあかり

   Cover of classic 1978 composition by Masahiro Kuwana.

9. Reason to be...
10. BLACK JACK

    A re-recording of a song Tak made in 2003 for the Japanese anime Black Jack, created for and featured in a special video release in the series.

11. Gakuseigai no Kissaten — Student Village Cafe, 学生街の喫茶店

    Cover of 1972 song by threepiece acoustic rock band GARO.

12. Rain

    The studio debut of the song performed as Tak's solo from B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2013 -ENDLESS SUMMER-.

International Edition

As with Tak's previous solo album Strings Of My Soul in 2012, the album is again tentatively scheduled for an international release following the domestic Japanese launch. Paul Brown again produced the album and will oversee its western release. Brown assisted not just in the production but also the mixing and ordering the track listing for the Western release. Tak mentioned in an interview with B'z fanclub magazine Be With! that the details of the Western edition were not "set in stone" just yet and there were still decisions to be made. He mentioned going through the album track-by-track with his production partners to decide which tracks were good fits for the American market, with unfit tracks set to be left out.

On April 27, 2014, Amazon.com listed New Horizon for pre-order with an expected release date of July 8, 2014.

Personnel

Credits apply to original Japanese track order

• Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12), Arrangement