The Tokyo-based duo of Rie Takeuchi (baritone saxophone) and Gideon Juckes (tuba). Intimate music, ancient and new, at the crossroads of folk, classical, improvisation, innovation and tradition.

MUSIC for ISOLATION formed in Tokyo, Japan in 2020. British tuba player Gideon Juckes and Japanese multi-reeds player Rie Takeuchi had been fixtures of the vibrant and energetic Tokyo music scene for a number of years. By early 2020, they had begun to feel a strong desire to explore quieter, more intimate music and felt that their respective musicalities would be a perfect fit for this new project. Rehearsals began and just as a strong mutual creative spark was realised, news came of the emerging global pandemic. They made a choice- to work together through isolation, creating and recording new music, both for those who are in isolation and looking for a form of escape, and for those seeking personal isolation from their everyday environments.

~ 2020 ~

“MUSIC for ISOLATION” debut album released.

Voted Top 10 Album of 2020, Far Side Radio, Resonance FM, London.

Nominated for Best Solo Album of 2020, 4barsrest Awards.

**** "A mix of spirituality and logical dogma weaves repetitive patterns and processes through the eight tracks; from the bleak, mournful ‘Black Heath’, to the tender hopefulness of ‘Travel to the Island’…which ebbs away to nothingness to close…perfect for time spent alone.” (Iwan Fox, 4barsrest)

Live Session Film Released.

~ 2021 ~

April- “MUSIC for ISOLATION - Volume II” 2nd album released.

Voted Top 10 Album of 2021, Far Side Radio, Resonance FM, London.

Nominated for Best Solo Album of 2021, 4barsrest Awards.

“Above The Midnight Sky” Video released.

“Red Sky at Night / Coda” selected for two Spotify-curated playlists, An Evening to Remember and Urban Classical Japan.

**** “a thoroughly absorbing experience…gently resolute in its dark tonality even as it releases you ever further from a tethered sense of time and place. The tracks echo with haunting thoughts of loss and faded memories…superbly realised” (Iwan Fox, 4barsrest)

August - Full 3 page interview and profile in Pipers magazine, Japan.

Distanced live concerts begin in Tokyo.

November - “Mountain Pensées” Reading and music performance, Matsumoto, Japan, with actors Kushida Kazuyoshi and Kobayashi Satomi.

December - “On Christmas Day It Happened So” 3rd Album released.

Top 10 Album of 2021 (Far Side Radio, Resonance FM, London)

Nominated for Best Solo Album at the 2022 4barsrest Awards

Picked as “New & Notable” by the Bandcamp editorial team. 100,000+ streams.

****“A poetic sense of time and place…as well as an eerie, unsettling atmosphere (beautifully mixed) that sets a wintry chill deep into the marrow of your bones…wonderfully atmospheric and thoughtfully inventive recording with just the right tincture strength of mystery” (Iwan Fox, 4barsrest)

Radio interview and live session, Trans World Music Ways, Tokyo FM.

First annual Christmas concert in Tokyo with actress Fujita Makoto.

~ 2022 ~

Two tours of Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe, Nagasaki, Kanazawa, Tochigi, Matsumoto, Saga)

Musical Directors of Festa Matsumoto outdoor theatre production of Moliere’s “Scapin the Schemer”, directed by Kushida Kazuyoshi.

Appeared in concert part of the "Shomeido Ongaku Hall 25th Anniversary Concert Series" with lutenist Tsunoda Takashi.

November - “On Christmas Day It Happened So ~ Special Edition” Released, featuring 2 new specially recorded pieces. All royalties from the Ukrainian carol “In The Lord Olexiy’s Yard” donated to the International Rescue Committee.

December - Second annual Christmas concert, Tokyo.

~ 2023 ~

April - Sold Out tour of Seoul, South Korea.

May - “Inaudible Sound” concert with pianist, composer Kei Ookubo (Urbangarde)

July - “777” MUSIC for ISOLATION meets Manami Kakudo (vocals, guitar, piano, composer)

October - “Waltz” MUSIC for ISOLATION meets E.Hyeji (cello)

Japan Tour (Fukuoka, Saga, Kanazawa, Toyama, Tokyo) New Work: MUSIC for ISOLATION plays Mother Goose (new arrangements of music by Ravel, stories by Perrault, d’Aulnoy).

December - Third annual Christmas concert, Tokyo.

~ 2024 ~

June- Invited to the Arctic archipelago as artists in residence at Spitsbergen Artists Centre for a 2 week period to write and record new music inspired by local history and environment. Received grants from Scandinavia Japan Sasakawa Foundation and the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo. Performed concerts at Isfjord Radio Station, Longyearbyen Kulturhuset and Svalbard Church.

Oslo, Norway - Collaboration concert in Kruttverket with art collective Dopey Monkey.

Stockholm, Sweden - 2 public reading and music concerts with author/illustrator Aron Landahl (Swedish Picture Book of the Year, Snobollen Award 2023)

Rie Takeuchi Gideon Juckes