“I am now 78 years old,” Haruomi Hosono said earlier this year, in a statement announcing his 23rd studio LP, Yours Sincerely, “but from here on, I feel a growing curiosity toward the unknown music that my new self will create, while also embracing the music of my former self—as if I now carry two musical worlds within me.” The title for the album—Hosono’s first release of new music in more than seven years—is his attempt to render the Japanese-language expression omoiyari in English. “I searched, but no word felt quite right. Each came close, yet carried a slightly different nuance.... I turned to a more familiar word often used to close a letter: ‘Sincerely.’”
If the record, released yesterday, sincerely turns out to be Hosono’s swan song, it will serve as the coda to one of the most eclectic and unexpectedly influential musical careers of all time. Seeing that his discography spans over half a century, it’s become de rigueur these days for Western freshmen to cite him as a load-bearing inspiration. Mac DeMarco, Cameron Winter of Geese, and Vampire Weekend all worship at the altar of Hosono. Even Harry Styles, somewhat unconvincingly, has claimed the Japanese legend as a huge influence.