Biography
Masaki Batoh, founder of the storied Japanese outfit Ghost, fronts the neo-psychedelic collective the Silence. After Ghost folded in 2014, Batoh launched the new project without delay. Drawing from Love, Blue Cheer, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Can, the band fuses psych, progressive folk, mutant pop, and memorable hooks into an unpredictable whole. Their self-titled debut and Hark the Silence appeared nine months apart during 2015, with Nine Suns, One Morning arriving the following year. Following tours and lineup shifts, the group issued Metaphysical Feedback in 2019 and Electric Meditations in 2020.
While promoting Brain Pulse Music across Spain in autumn 2013, Batoh encountered drummer Okano Futoshi, who had performed with Ghost during the Lama Rabi Rabi era and its extensive 1996 U.S. trek. Their conversation stretched beyond an hour and led both musicians to agree on a future partnership. In 2014 Batoh ended Ghost after its seven-year layoff and, that fall, revealed the Silence as his new band alongside Futoshi. He brought in former Ghost colleague Kazuo Ogino to handle keyboards, production, and arrangements. Ogino in turn added bassist Jan Stigter and saxophonist/flutist Ryuichi Yoshida. Drag City released the self-titled debut in March 2015; Hark the Silence followed in November, emphasizing the group’s heavier, jam-driven side. After intermittent road work, the Silence returned to recording. Nine Suns, One Morning merged the open, spacious textures of the first album with the more intense psychedelia of the second.
Metaphysical Feedback, the quartet’s fourth album, surfaced in August 2019 and revealed yet another dimension of their sound. Although acid folk and psych-rock remained central, the record introduced more progressive structures, shifting time signatures, denser arrangements, and prominent reeds and woodwinds courtesy of Yoshida. Ogino departed the core lineup yet contributed as a guest, while founding bassist Stigter stepped away to focus on solo work and was succeeded by Taiga Yamazaki, locking the group into quartet form. That configuration let Batoh pursue a leaner psychedelic approach.
Electric Meditations was tracked on analog equipment at GOK Studios in Tokyo. The sessions ranged from expansive, acid-soaked garage rockers to open-ended improvisational pieces. Among the originals sits a raw, sax-heavy reading of Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man.”
While promoting Brain Pulse Music across Spain in autumn 2013, Batoh encountered drummer Okano Futoshi, who had performed with Ghost during the Lama Rabi Rabi era and its extensive 1996 U.S. trek. Their conversation stretched beyond an hour and led both musicians to agree on a future partnership. In 2014 Batoh ended Ghost after its seven-year layoff and, that fall, revealed the Silence as his new band alongside Futoshi. He brought in former Ghost colleague Kazuo Ogino to handle keyboards, production, and arrangements. Ogino in turn added bassist Jan Stigter and saxophonist/flutist Ryuichi Yoshida. Drag City released the self-titled debut in March 2015; Hark the Silence followed in November, emphasizing the group’s heavier, jam-driven side. After intermittent road work, the Silence returned to recording. Nine Suns, One Morning merged the open, spacious textures of the first album with the more intense psychedelia of the second.
Metaphysical Feedback, the quartet’s fourth album, surfaced in August 2019 and revealed yet another dimension of their sound. Although acid folk and psych-rock remained central, the record introduced more progressive structures, shifting time signatures, denser arrangements, and prominent reeds and woodwinds courtesy of Yoshida. Ogino departed the core lineup yet contributed as a guest, while founding bassist Stigter stepped away to focus on solo work and was succeeded by Taiga Yamazaki, locking the group into quartet form. That configuration let Batoh pursue a leaner psychedelic approach.
Electric Meditations was tracked on analog equipment at GOK Studios in Tokyo. The sessions ranged from expansive, acid-soaked garage rockers to open-ended improvisational pieces. Among the originals sits a raw, sax-heavy reading of Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man.”
Albums
Singles
