Throughout his career spanning more than 30 years, pianist Tsuyoshi Hirano has been a unique figure in Japan’s extreme underground scene, quietly weaving a sonic world that captivates listeners. He rose to prominence in the 1990s and has released three albums on PSF Records—run by the legendary record store Modern Music—as well as several self-released works. What these works have in common is a focus not so much on technical perfection as on the spontaneity and poetry that arise in the moment. It is music that infuses the small moments of everyday life with a fleeting beauty.

*The Habit* is structured around a public recording session held on October 5, 2020, using Pianola Records’ upright piano, interwoven with a collection of short, sketch-like pieces featuring synthesizers that had been recorded on cassette MTRs since the late 1980s. With a minimalist instrumental arrangement—including piano, melodica, wind chimes, and percussion—and understated timbres, delicate melodies are quietly and slowly woven together. The expansive resonance of the piano drifts gently, blending with the surrounding sounds. Rather than presenting only the sounds of the instruments, the work carefully incorporates the atmosphere of the moment and even the subtle signs lurking in everyday life, transforming “imperfection” into a living form of expression.

Unadorned expression that captures the impulses arising naturally from the moment, combined with an approach that incorporates the environment through a unique sensibility, embodies Tsuyoshi Hirano’s unwavering aesthetic. In *The Habit*, an intimate and melodic resonance—nurtured by the passage of time and the accumulation of days filled with sound—quietly breathes.