Back in February, I reviewed German classical guitarist Jonathan Bockelmann’s debut album “Childish Mind”, released on Munich-based experimental jazz imprint Squama. Label co-founder Martin Brugger had discovered Bockelmann through his innovative guitar transcriptions of Ryuichi Sakamoto pieces but had encouraged him to write his own songs for his first album.

After the passing of the Japanese ambient and contemporary classical master, they’ve now decided to record four of these transcriptions and release them as a stand-alone EP, “Sakamoto on Guitar”. The first tune “Opus” – originally included on Sakamoto’s mid-career solo piano album “BTTB (Back to the Basics)” (1999) – has been released with the pre-order.

I’ve been listening to it on headphones today, sitting in my garden and watching my dog play. It’s so gentle, peaceful and slightly melancholic – the very definition of the Japanese concept of mono no aware.