Two Tatsuro Yamashitas exist in 2022. There¡¯s Tatsuro Yamashita, the patron saint of city pop and a musical symbol for all things bubble-era Japan. As a younger generation in Japan and abroad long for the perceived ease and excess of the 1970s and ¡¯80s, the singer-songwriter has become the embodiment of those good ol¡¯ days. His hits play in YouTube compilations of older Japanese pop, with titles like ¡°¡± and ¡°.¡± He¡¯s talked about a lot online, but often in the past tense.

Then there¡¯s Tatsuro Yamashita, the 69-year-old pop tinkerer still exploring his craft on new album ¡°Softly,¡± his 14th full-length release and first in 11 years. He¡¯s not looking back or chasing nostalgia ¡ª something younger bands here have been doing en masse for the past five years ¡ª but building on his musical foundation.

In a recent , Yamashita compared his approach to songwriting to the filmmaking of Yasujio Ozu, who finding new themes in familiar structures. ¡°Softly¡± generally follows the same pattern Yamashita has explored since the ¡¯70s ¡ª he draws from the postwar American songbook and puts his own spin on rock (¡°You¡±), funk (¡°Uta no Kisha¡±) and doo-wop (¡°Shining From the Inside¡±). He¡¯s been doing this for decades, and he¡¯s not afraid to drop a Beach Boys reference midsong. But that¡¯s out of a love for this music and what it¡¯s capable of.