First Light

First Light was the debut 1982 album from multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Makoto Matsushita, its superbly smooth production, lovingly crafted songs and unashamedly pretty, almost wholesome melodies a high-fidelity example of the Japanese City Pop album. Before recording his album Matsushita worked as a session musician and arranger, and First Light sounds very much like a session player’s album, revelling in the textures of each perfectly-pitched, neatly interlocking instrumental part and every faultlessly multi-tracked vocal. There’s a hint of Steely Dan and The Crusaders in the jazzy inflections and in the high sheen, detailed production, and the overall feel is smooth, soothing, clean, pure and innocent. First-rate City Pop.