M. Sage is a musician, intermedia artist and recording engineer (as well as a producer, publisher, teacher, partner and parent). He has been making experimental studio recordings since the early 2010s, with recent highlights including the four seasonal albums by Fuubutsushi, the improvisational ambient jazz quartet he formed with friends, and the 2021 release "The Wind of Things" — which drew comparisons to Tortoise's "TNT." Driven by a perfectionist sensibility in which a piece is only done when it's truly finished, he spent an unusual five years — unusual for such a prolific artist — patiently designing "Paradise Crick," resulting in a fascinating, singular and utterly convincing work that fuses the natural and man-made worlds into something like a fantasy. A masterpiece. (Original Japanese text by AYAM)