Music Sets You Free

Few artists have refused to stay in one lane as completely as Ryuichi Sakamoto. He helped invent the sound of the future with Yellow Magic Orchestra, won an Oscar for scoring The Last Emperor, and kept pushing into ambient and experimental work long after the hits. He also spoke up loudly for the planet: he campaigned against nuclear power and planted forests.

In this memoir he turns that restless curiosity on himself. How does a boy from Tokyo become a pop star, a composer and an activist all at once? Music Sets You Free is his attempt to find out, and a reminder that the most interesting people never fit one label.

Translated by Sam Bett. Hardcover, published by HarperVia.