LOVE AFTER LOVE (Limited White Vinyl)

Ryuichi Sakamoto is no stranger to composing soundtracks; the legendary artist has explored all corners of music throughout his career, with plenty of film scores under his belt. His work for director Ann Hui's Love After Love is his first soundtrack for a Chinese film, and won the Best Original Film Score at the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards.

The romantic duo of piano and strings matches the elegant nature of her 2020 film, where Ge Weilong is thrusted into the throes of desire as she pursues education in Hong Kong. There is a menace lurking in the solemn notes, however, as the mood often shifts between musical phrases, betraying complex emotions of delicate deceit. Minor keys depict Weilong’s unwitting entrance into her aunt’s shady dealings in return for financial aid, as she becomes trapped between love and manipulation.

As a master of minimalism, Sakamoto ekes out these strifes with a limited palette. The dreamlike elegance of ‘Qiao Gate Piano’ introduces the soundtrack’s theme, with slowly treading chords that don’t quite want to slip their hands from each other, speaking of wistful love: lost, unrequited, or perhaps wholly unattainable. The accompanying string pieces amplify these feelings, with the cathartic swells of ‘Flashback Strings’ rising and falling as tension rests in their softly bowed movements.

Love After Love is another of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s excellent film scores, a subtle yet grand evocation of romantic drama.

Please note for shipping purposes this counts as 5 discs

1 Qiao Gate Piano
2 Qiao Gate Strings
3 Flashback Strings
4 Light2 Piano
5 Light2 Strings
6 Theme Piano
7 Theme Strings
8 Yacht Strings