I cannot say enough to thank Francis for getting this project off the ground: from helping to conceptualize these songs and themes, selecting the musicians, adding his own musical voice to the session, and overall mentoring. What began as a few exercises of eliciting a voice, quickly blossomed into fulfilling a deeper need to explore. As patterns began to form, it became clear that our music, as in life, contains a collection of many voices, many views. Hence, many "identities" emerge yet drawn from a single source. Thus, this project is really about taking up different paths, but always returning to ourselves.
This may seem a bit complex and heavy, but really, it's just about the beauty of music and how it reflects our every day life. I hope you will enjoy this music as much as we did in creating this for you.
Identities – Doug Yokoyama
1999