What started as a result of the COVID lockdowns in 2020 has resulted in one of the more refreshing and welcome examples of ambient music in recent memory. Stretched out across the continental United States, Fuubutsushi was formed by Patrick Shiroishi (Los Angeles), Chris Jusell (Raleigh, North Carolina), Matthew Sage (Colorado’s Front Range), and Chaz Prymek (Salt Lake City), who began remotely creating a four-part musical series (representing the four seasons) and assembled in 2021 as a multi-disc set called Shiki. Fuubutsushi released a follow-up, Meridians, in 2024, and now they’re back with a stunning live recording, Columbia Deluxe.
With Shiroishi on saxophones and field recordings, Jusell on violin, Sage on piano and synthesizer, and Prymek on guitar and bass (with all four musicians sharing bells, voice, and electronics), Columbia Deluxe captures the ensemble in their first – and so far, only – live setting, recorded at the Columbia Experimental Music Festival in Columbia, Missouri, in 2021. While there may have been a collective anxiety around performing this music together and in front of an audience for the first time, Sage explains on the album’s Bandcamp page that the nervousness eventually dissipated.
“Part of the thrill was that we knew the songs separately, kind of on our own terms,” he said. “And how it felt to finally turn this music, which we made in such a physically isolated way, to finally come into being in person, for a really receptive audience in a really beautiful room.”
The various musical disciplines of this quartet, which encompass classical, jazz, experimental, noise, and pop, among other styles, result in performances that stretch the limits of classification. Primarily, the album is characterized by a deep sense of calm, complemented by welcome touches of experimental adventure.
Columbia Deluxe opens with an extended version of “Bolted Orange”, which, in its initial form, opened the Shiki set. Stretched out to a leisurely ten-and-a-half minutes, it begins with fingerpicked guitar and ethereal vocalizing, as bells, saxophone, piano chords, strings, and sampled spoken word gently unfold over time. The track washes over the listener like a pleasant dream. “Loop Trail” continues along the same lines as if part of a gentle, ambient medley.
The sonic landscape is ever-shifting on Columbia Deluxe. “Shepherd’s Stroll” adds more tension, particularly with Jusell’s violin, and the overall sound is somewhere between ambient country and Americana. The tempo shifts nearly halfway through to a more “walking” feel, as described by the title. The general vibe of the track, as well as most of the record, suggests that the group enjoy taking their time getting to the eventual destination.
“Mistral”, one of the highlights, is wrapped in a warm, gospel feel, thanks to Sage’s bold and confident piano work. The sparse, meditative calm of “I Hold Dearly (for Miles)” only furthers Fuubutsushi’s desire to cover as much dynamic ground as possible, executed with both relaxed passion and a fair share of tension, particularly at the song’s dizzying conclusion.
Columbia Deluxe ends with “Light in the Annex”, which begins quietly enough before Shiroishi – an acclaimed expert at the art of spiritual jazz – mesmerizes with his saxophone, cutting through the festival air as the other instruments hang on for the ride. It’s not entirely accurate to label Columbia Deluxe as exclusively meditative ambient music, as occasional episodes of tension and mild atonality do creep in.
However, with this album, Fuubutsushi have staked their claim as an accomplished instrumental quartet that can easily appeal to all audiences: those who want an ambient experience and those who thirst for a bit of a noisy adventure.
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