Milan Records: "MINAMATA" music by RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

Milan Records announces the July 30 release of MINAMATA (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by Academy Award®-, Golden Globe®- and GRAMMY®-Award winning composer and musician RYUICHI SAKAMOTO. Available for preorder now, the album features music written by Sakamoto for the Andrew Levitas-directed film based on true events, which follows an American photographer as he documents the effects of mercury poisoning on a coastal town in Japan. Making its debut alongside album pre-order is the score’s main theme, a sweepingly atmospheric and somber piano number that serves as a poignant accompaniment to the film’s story of industrial disaster – listen to “Minamata Piano Theme” here. Also included within the 22-track album is the film’s end credit song “One Single Voice,” which is performed by Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins. Milan Records will also release a vinyl edition of the soundtrack on July 30 pressed on a pair of 180-gram black vinyl discs and housed in gate-fold packaging with a 12” photo insert, credits and liner notes from director Andrew Levitas – pre-order now.

Of the score and working with Sakamoto, Minamata director Andrew Levitas says, “Ryuichi was my dream collaborator – he would be on any film – but on this mission in particular, there could be no one else…The music quite literally needed to represent both the absolute best of humanity as well as the worst…In my opinion, Ryuichi was able to elegantly ride this razor’s edge and deliver on this concept entirely.”

“It was an honor to be a part of Ryuichi’s beautiful Minamata score,” adds Katherine Jenkins of her inclusion on the soundtrack. “Collaborating with this master with the goal to bring voice to the Minamata patients and the countless others affected by industrial pollution was an inspiring experience which I will always cherish."

Based on the book by the same name, Minamata tells the story of reclusive war photographer Eugene Smith as he travels Japan to document the devastating effect of mercury poisoning among coastal communities. Armed with only his trusted camera, Smith’s images from the toxic village give the disaster a heartbreaking human dimension, and his initial assignment turns into a life-changing experience.
 

Jeremy [Six Strings]