The quartet Fuubutsushi began as a COVID pandemic-era project between Chris Jusell (violin), Chaz Prymek (guitar), Matthew Sage (piano), and Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone), recording remotely from long distances and amassing a robust body of work that combines aspects of jazz, ambient, folk, and classical. They are occasionally reminiscent of post-rock at its most adventurous and at other times give off a decidedly ECM Records vibe. Columbia Deluxe is documentation of Fuubutsushi’s first and only live performance, captured at the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri during the Columbia Experimental Music Festival in November 2021. The set is available July 11 on LP and digital through the label American Dreams.
When the world dishes out creative roadblocks, artists will find a way to adapt. The COVID pandemic reinforced this, as scores of musical projects emerged, with Fuubutsushi amongst the most striking. The group came together at the beginning of the pandemic, and in short order, they recorded the tetralogy Shiki (四季). With the members based in different states, it was impressive how warm and together the music sounded.
In Japanese, the word Fuubutsushi is defined as the things that remind one of a particular season. The four sections that comprise Shiki (四季), Fuubutsushi (風物詩), Setsubun (節分), Yamawarau (山笑う), and Natsukashī (懐かしい) are based on a season. The sections were initially released separately and were compiled in 2021 as a 4CD set issued by Sage’s label Cached Media.
This box set would be an impressive enough achievement, but Fuubutsushi also released the nearly 25-minute digital-only track “Good Sky Day” in 2021 on the Longform Editions label, and after a break in activity, released Meridians, a 2LP set in 2024. Earlier this year, they issued a single-sided lathe cut 7-inch, “The Harmony of Irrelevant Facts,” in a limited edition of 100 through the Whited Sepulchre label (copies are still available through Bandcamp and the Whited Sepulchre website).
Four of the six pieces on Columbia Deluxe come from the Shiki (四季) box. The other two, “Loop Trail” and “Light in the Annex,” previously appeared on the 2022 “Birthingbodies” EP and Meridians, respectively. Every selection on Columbia Deluxe can be accurately described as an expansion of the source piece, and nowhere greater than in the opener “Bolted Orange,” which expands the root recording from three minutes to over ten.
“Bolted Orange” is pretty and calm, but there’s a pointed sharpness in the playing, especially in the violin of Jusell. The members all have their core axe, but everyone expands their contribution to different instruments, including on this album Shiroishi on bells and field recordings, Sage on synth and electronics, Prymek on bass and electronics, and Jusell on bells. Sage and Jusell both add their voices to the performance. Shiroishi’s field recordings are of Japanese Americans relating their experience in American internment camps.
The unpredictable progressions of “Shepherd’s Stroll” might be the highlight of the album, though Sage’s beautiful piano in “Mistral” is also quite special. Altogether, the music registers as an inspired attempt at collective healing. To call Fuubutsushi post-category is an understatement. To call Columbia Deluxe one of the best records of 2025 is right on the money.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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