Yoichi Hirai Group with Eiichi Hayashi - Interruption

2026

The twin guitars of Allan Holdsworth devotees Yoichi Hirai and Reo Matsui, along with a powerful horn section led by Eiichi Hayashi, fuse the freedom of jazz with the construction of metal. The previous album, "Mondendal," featured a pair of standards and original songs in different genres, heavy metal and minimal, which have now evolved into two separate units. 

The metal tracks, influenced by Meshuggah, Slayer, and Sunn O))), feature the twin guitars of Yoichi Hirai and Reo Matsui, both Allan Holdsworth devotees, along with the alto saxophone of leading Japanese jazz master Eiichi Hayashi and producer Hikaru Yamada, and the horn section of cutting-edge trumpeter Hiroyuki Ishikawa. 

Meanwhile, the minimalist/ambient tracks offer a completely different musical vision, centered around the electronic sounds of Masahiko Okura’s clarinet and Hirai’s guitar synthesizer. "Weight" and "silence," "speed" and "white space" create a resonance, and the sound philosophy that the Hirai Yoichi Group has pursued for many years comes to vivid fruition here.