Biography
Susumu Hirasawa fuses progressive rock textures, expansive new age atmospheres, and electro-pop elements, gaining recognition through his membership in acts such as the chart-topping new wave ensemble P-Model, his soundtrack compositions, and his own charting solo releases. P-Model's sophomore album Landsale reached number one in Japan during 1980, after which Hirasawa issued his solo debut Water in Time and Space in 1989. He sustained an independent career thereafter while expanding into anime scoring, including the 1990s series Berserk, even as he continued recording with P-Model until the group's concluding release Music Industrial Wastes: P-Model or Die in 1999. Marked by a vibrant approach that proves both playful and forceful, his scoring assignments over the ensuing decade extended to Berserk-linked video games and the 2006 anime feature Paprika. His eleventh solo album Planet Role Call from 2009 entered Japan's Top 50 during this span. Still advancing on the charts in his sixties, he achieved a solo career best at number 32 with 2015's The Man Climbing the Hologram, his thirteenth solo album.
Born in Tokyo in 1954, Susumu Hirasawa began playing guitar at age eleven and, prompted by the Ventures, joined his initial band in 1966. In his late teens he entered Tokyo Designer Gakuin College in 1972, the same year he started performing with Mandrake, a progressive rock outfit drawing from King Crimson, Yes, and Pink Floyd. Music prominence followed the formation of P-Model in the late 1970s. Their opening album In a Model Room appeared on Warner-Pioneer in 1979. The group ultimately released a dozen albums by the close of the 1990s, yet their sole Japanese number-one success arrived with the follow-up to the debut, Landsale (1980). After 1981's Potpourri, P-Model underwent repeated label and lineup changes, though the project frequently operated as an extension of Hirasawa's solo work. He delivered his first official solo album Water in Time and Space on Polydor in 1989. Releases issued under his own name also encompassed 1990's The Ghost in Science and 1991's Virtual Robot before he rejoined P-Model for an eighth self-titled album on Polydor in 1992, which restored founding bassist Katsuhiko Akiyama from the band's earliest two LPs.
Alongside these efforts, Hirasawa contributed tracks to compilation albums and created music for advertisements and events. His first substantial television assignment involved the three-part animated action mini-series Detonator Orgun (1991-1992). Returning to P-Model, he presented Big Body on Polydor in 1993. His fourth solo album Aurora reached number 98 in 1994, marking his initial entry into Japan's Top 100. Slightly stronger chart placement came with mid-1995's Sun City, which preceded the year's-end P-Model release Fune on Nippon Columbia. Maintaining alternation between solo and group albums through the late 1990s, he offered his own Siren in 1996 and P-Model's Electronic Tragedy: Enola in 1997. That year also produced his well-received soundtrack album for the anime series Berserk, to which he later returned for video game scores. He issued the solo LP Technique of Relief in 1998 before P-Model's twelfth and final album Music Industrial Wastes: P-Model or Die appeared as a self-release in 1999, aligning with the project's twentieth anniversary.
Following the model of Music Industrial Wastes: P-Model or Die, Hirasawa self-released 2000's alchemy-themed Philosopher's Propeller. In 2001 he recorded the remix album Solar Ray in a home studio newly converted to full solar power. Influenced by ongoing conflicts, 2003's Blue Limbo adopted a dystopian perspective, and in 2004 Hirasawa revived a solo form of P-Model for the first in a series of recordings credited to Kaku P-Model or Susumu Hirasawa & Kaku P-Model, whose debut full-length carried the title Vistoron. His tenth solo studio album White Tiger Field from 2006 shared two tracks with the anime film Paprika, which he also scored. The next full-length Planet Roll Call reached number 42 on Japan's album chart. Number 43 was attained with 2012's The Secret of the Flowers of Phenomenon. That same year he supplied music for the second Berserk: Golden Age Arc film The Battle for Doldrey, after which he reactivated Kaku P-Model for the second album Gipnoza in 2013. Reaching number 31 on the Japanese album chart, it earned strong reception. Sustaining a steady audience across projects, his thirteenth solo album The Man Climbing the Hologram from 2015 peaked at number 32. A year later Ash Crow gathered material dating back to the late 1990s that he had composed for the Berserk franchise. The third Kaku P-Model album Kai=Kai appeared in 2018 and climbed to number 26 in Japan.
Born in Tokyo in 1954, Susumu Hirasawa began playing guitar at age eleven and, prompted by the Ventures, joined his initial band in 1966. In his late teens he entered Tokyo Designer Gakuin College in 1972, the same year he started performing with Mandrake, a progressive rock outfit drawing from King Crimson, Yes, and Pink Floyd. Music prominence followed the formation of P-Model in the late 1970s. Their opening album In a Model Room appeared on Warner-Pioneer in 1979. The group ultimately released a dozen albums by the close of the 1990s, yet their sole Japanese number-one success arrived with the follow-up to the debut, Landsale (1980). After 1981's Potpourri, P-Model underwent repeated label and lineup changes, though the project frequently operated as an extension of Hirasawa's solo work. He delivered his first official solo album Water in Time and Space on Polydor in 1989. Releases issued under his own name also encompassed 1990's The Ghost in Science and 1991's Virtual Robot before he rejoined P-Model for an eighth self-titled album on Polydor in 1992, which restored founding bassist Katsuhiko Akiyama from the band's earliest two LPs.
Alongside these efforts, Hirasawa contributed tracks to compilation albums and created music for advertisements and events. His first substantial television assignment involved the three-part animated action mini-series Detonator Orgun (1991-1992). Returning to P-Model, he presented Big Body on Polydor in 1993. His fourth solo album Aurora reached number 98 in 1994, marking his initial entry into Japan's Top 100. Slightly stronger chart placement came with mid-1995's Sun City, which preceded the year's-end P-Model release Fune on Nippon Columbia. Maintaining alternation between solo and group albums through the late 1990s, he offered his own Siren in 1996 and P-Model's Electronic Tragedy: Enola in 1997. That year also produced his well-received soundtrack album for the anime series Berserk, to which he later returned for video game scores. He issued the solo LP Technique of Relief in 1998 before P-Model's twelfth and final album Music Industrial Wastes: P-Model or Die appeared as a self-release in 1999, aligning with the project's twentieth anniversary.
Following the model of Music Industrial Wastes: P-Model or Die, Hirasawa self-released 2000's alchemy-themed Philosopher's Propeller. In 2001 he recorded the remix album Solar Ray in a home studio newly converted to full solar power. Influenced by ongoing conflicts, 2003's Blue Limbo adopted a dystopian perspective, and in 2004 Hirasawa revived a solo form of P-Model for the first in a series of recordings credited to Kaku P-Model or Susumu Hirasawa & Kaku P-Model, whose debut full-length carried the title Vistoron. His tenth solo studio album White Tiger Field from 2006 shared two tracks with the anime film Paprika, which he also scored. The next full-length Planet Roll Call reached number 42 on Japan's album chart. Number 43 was attained with 2012's The Secret of the Flowers of Phenomenon. That same year he supplied music for the second Berserk: Golden Age Arc film The Battle for Doldrey, after which he reactivated Kaku P-Model for the second album Gipnoza in 2013. Reaching number 31 on the Japanese album chart, it earned strong reception. Sustaining a steady audience across projects, his thirteenth solo album The Man Climbing the Hologram from 2015 peaked at number 32. A year later Ash Crow gathered material dating back to the late 1990s that he had composed for the Berserk franchise. The third Kaku P-Model album Kai=Kai appeared in 2018 and climbed to number 26 in Japan.
Albums
