Tomás Cabado is an Argentinian, Buenos Aires-based experimental, contemporary composer and guitarist who is influenced by the subtle, minimalist work of Swiss contemporary composer Jürg Frey and the work of Norwegian guitarist Fredrik Rasten. pillow shots, a term that references the Japanese film master Yasujirō  Ozu (and links to film the tradition of pillow words in classical Japanese poetry – short addendums to a line that reflects on or even shift the meaning of what comes next, like the brief, random shots Ozu used in between carefully composed scenes), was recorded during Cabado’s one-month residency at Q-O2 in Brussels in September 2022.

During that residency, Cabado saw Ozu’s classic masterpiece Tokyo Story (東京物語, Tōkyō Monogatari) from 1953, with only French and Flemish subtitles. Since Cabado does not know Japanese, nor French or Flemish, he was drawn to the suggestive and most beautiful pillow shots. Cabado began to work on pillow shots the next day. The cover image was made by fellow Argentinian artist Luciano Vitale.

This album offers a mysterious, suggestive atmosphere that demands active listening, even active interpretation of the short and subtle, cinematic scenes that Cabado sketches with sparse acoustic steel strings guitar lines, spiced with subtle samples and field recordings. This album extends Cabado’s favored simple approach toward sonic material and form in composition. One of the pieces is even titled «Ozu» and has a minimalist, hypnotic plus, and another piece is dedicated to another innovative and imaginative master, Spanish virtuoso guitarist Andrés Segovia.

Eyal Hareuveni   

Tomás Cabado (acoustic guitar, samples, field recordings)