In Another
Masahiro Takahashi
In Another is Masahiro Takahashi’s sixth LP, released in March 2026 on Telephone Explosion Records, and it marks his fullest move from solo, DAW‑driven ambient work into fully arranged, small‑ensemble songcraft. The 10‑track, 40‑minute album—featuring pieces like “I’m your mirror,” “Queen West Butterfly,” “Dreamies,” “No Kings,” “Humans,” “Useless Tree,” “Cat only knows,” and others—was recorded in Toronto with a rotating cast of ten collaborators and co‑produced/engineered by saxophonist‑composer Joseph Shabason. Drawing on Takahashi’s love of chamber pop (The High Llamas, The Free Design, The Beach Boys), it trades the Ableton‑first processes of earlier releases for lead sheets and live tracking, opening with an intimate dialogue between upright piano and plucked bass that sets a more acoustic, breathing tone.
Across the album, he and his ensemble—featuring players such as Thom Gill, Bram Gielen, Philippe Melanson, Nick Storring, and Shabason—stretch from viscous jazz‑funk to wistful ambient textures, languid ballads, and gently groove‑laden “tropical” interludes, all held together by warm synths, vibraphone, woodwinds, and strings. Vocals play a bigger role than on most of his previous work: Dorothea Paas sings on nine tracks, while Chris A. Cummings (Marker Starling) crafts and shares vocal arrangements on six, tying the record explicitly to its chamber‑pop inspirations. Conceptually, Takahashi has cited Akira Kurosawa’s film Dreams and the parables of Zhuangzi as influences on the album’s vignette‑like structure and gently philosophical mood, making In Another feel like a series of short, self‑contained scenes that together form his most colourful and sophisticated statement to date.
In Another
Masahiro Takahashi
In Another is Masahiro Takahashi’s sixth LP, released in March 2026 on Telephone Explosion Records, and it marks his fullest move from solo, DAW‑driven ambient work into fully arranged, small‑ensemble songcraft. The 10‑track, 40‑minute album—featuring pieces like “I’m your mirror,” “Queen West Butterfly,” “Dreamies,” “No Kings,” “Humans,” “Useless Tree,” “Cat only knows,” and others—was recorded in Toronto with a rotating cast of ten collaborators and co‑produced/engineered by saxophonist‑composer Joseph Shabason. Drawing on Takahashi’s love of chamber pop (The High Llamas, The Free Design, The Beach Boys), it trades the Ableton‑first processes of earlier releases for lead sheets and live tracking, opening with an intimate dialogue between upright piano and plucked bass that sets a more acoustic, breathing tone.
Across the album, he and his ensemble—featuring players such as Thom Gill, Bram Gielen, Philippe Melanson, Nick Storring, and Shabason—stretch from viscous jazz‑funk to wistful ambient textures, languid ballads, and gently groove‑laden “tropical” interludes, all held together by warm synths, vibraphone, woodwinds, and strings. Vocals play a bigger role than on most of his previous work: Dorothea Paas sings on nine tracks, while Chris A. Cummings (Marker Starling) crafts and shares vocal arrangements on six, tying the record explicitly to its chamber‑pop inspirations. Conceptually, Takahashi has cited Akira Kurosawa’s film Dreams and the parables of Zhuangzi as influences on the album’s vignette‑like structure and gently philosophical mood, making In Another feel like a series of short, self‑contained scenes that together form his most colourful and sophisticated statement to date.