Eri Sugai

Country of origin:

Japan

Type of music generally:

New Age

Status:

Most recent release, Kokoro No Niwa (2009)

See also:

Wkikipedia's Eri Sugai's pagee

Pacific Moon Records

Comparisons:

Enya, Adiemus

Covers/own material:

Own and traditional material

General comments:

Eri Sugai makes beautiful ethereal music with strong emphasis on the voice. (stjarnell@yahoo.com)

Recommended first album:

Mai is the only one we've heard

Recordings include:

• Mai (2000)
• Kaori (2005)
• Kokoro No Niwa (2009)

Mai

Release info:

2000—Pacific Moon Records/Chapter One—CHCB-10020 (PMR-0020)

Availability:

See Pacific Moon Records site for availability

Ecto priority:

Recommended

Group members:

Eri Sugai—vocals, backing vocals, claps

Guest artists:

Anna Sugar—vocals, backing vocals
Keisuke Doi—shakuhachi
Ikuo Kakehashi—percussion
Yuji Nishimura—sho
Wang Ming Jun—dizi
Takashai Ashahi—quena
Rikiya Yamashita
Mizuyo Komiya
Eida Group—strings
Hitoshi Watanabe—bass
Kazumasa Yoshioka, Chieko Suyama—claps

Produced by:

Kazumasa Yoshioka and Eri Sugai

Comments:

Eri Sugai's Mai is a lovely album of New Age music with Sugai's voice at the centre. She is reminiscent of Enya in the layering of vocal parts and the calm atmosphere of the music. "Honen Bushi" has Anna Sugar on lead vocals and is a rhytmic track that still sounds ethereal somehow.
     "Konjaku Monogatari" is floating and delicate. On "First Love" Sugai tries to sounds like a niko, a chinese stringed instrument, and does a great job of it.
     This is a beautiful and accomplished album. (stjarnell@yahoo.com)

Thanks to Anna Maria Stjärnell for work on this entry