Haruomi Hosono signs to Ghostly International and unveils plans for new album, Yours Sincerely

At seventy-eight years old, the Japanese pop legend joins the likes of Dua Saleh, Launder, Mary Lattimore, and more, as the latest signee to the independent label. This comes a year after Hosono celebrated the 50th anniversary of his second studio album, Tropical Dandy. Speaking about entering a new chapter with Yours Sincerely, Hosono says, “I am now 78 years old, 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.”

Yours Sincerely was crafted over two years as Hosono's first new album in seven years, with arrangements spanning folk and avant-pop. Discussing the inspiration behind the album, he explains, “It started with a simple question: how do you express the Japanese ideas of omoiyari (思い遣り), jihi (慈悲), or boseiai (母性愛) in English? I searched, but no word felt quite right. Each came close, yet carried a slightly different nuance. Perhaps the nearest was ‘compassion.’ It is often translated as ‘omoiyari’ in Japanese, but its original meaning is ‘to suffer together.’

"It tends to carry a sense of sympathy or pity - something that feels distinct from the Japanese sense of omoiyari. In Japanese, omoiyari also includes the feeling of ‘rejoicing together.’ In that sense, it may even seem like the opposite. The perspective, the emotional angle—subtly but fundamentally different. For that reason, I chose not to use ‘compassion.’ Instead, I turned to a more familiar word often used to close a letter: ‘Sincerely.’”

Yours Sincerely artwork

Yours Sincerely tracklist

"Note of Mothership"
"Sincerely"
"Ayurveda"
"M for Mandala"
"Rojiura"
"Happy Holiday"
"To a Wild Rose"
"Humming “Dream of Love”"
"Figlio Perduto"
"Anemo Wheel"