Naoki Zushi IV

World Of Echo inaugurates a series of reissues by Japanese guitarist, Naoki Zushi. Best known for his stellar contributions to psych folk group, Nagisa Ni Te, Zushi has had a parallel career releasing solo albums that spotlight his exultant guitar playing. Originally released to CD only by Shinji Shibayama of Nagisa Ni Te’s Org imprint in 2018, IV has Zushi playing and writing at a peak, its six songs slowly unfurling with a kind of paradoxical understated grandeur. This is psychedelic guitar music at its most paced and considered, yet given to flights of inspiration, and in this respect, Zushi sits within a lineage of guitarists who’ve used their instrument both as textural anchor and improvisatory tool – think Phil Manzanera, Robert Fripp, Roy Montgomery, Grouper, even Tom Verlaine. Zushi locates moments of deep emotional resonance amidst luxuriant textural and melodic exploration. Zushi’s history stretches back to the mid-70s. While he first appeared on the scene as a founding member of noise legends Hijokaidan, he started out making home recordings of when he was in high school. He was a member of Rasenkaidan the group that soon mutated into Hijokaidan. Zushi would soon form Idiot O’Clock, in 1982; Zushi also led his own Naoki Zushi Unit, starting in 1983. Zushi’s first significant appearance on record was as a member of Shinji Shibayama’s psych-pop group, Hallelujahs, That group mutated into Nagisa Ni Te, and Zushi has played a significant role as their lead guitarist for several decades. His solo music has appeared sporadically – Paradise (1987), Phenomenal Luciferin (1998), III (2005) and IV, with a few recent, meditative offerings, For My Friends’ Sleep (2021) and Nocturnes (2022). With IV, though, Zushi achieved something remarkable, a kind of extended exploration of the time-altering properties of echoplexed, hypnotically spiralling guitar interplay.