By Andrew Stahl

Lo-fi inherits a problem from ambient: as Brian Eno put it, ambient should “accommodate many levels of listening attention without forcing one in particular; it must be ignorable as it is interesting.” It must reward the attentive and background listener alike. True to Eno’s dictum, Japanese producer Sweet William’s new album Beat Theme doesn’t demand the listener’s attention, but his relaxed beats do sometimes command it.

Beat Theme, released on Sweet William’s own Art Sonoma imprint, features 14 tracks inspired by traditional Japanese instrumentation and legendary producers such as J Dilla and Nujabes. It is William’s seventh album, and the first made under his own name since 2016’s Arte Frasco. William commissioned illustrator Moeno Otsu to create hypnotic animations accompanying each track. “This is the first time I’ve made an album where instrumentals or beats play the main role,” he says, “I feel like I can finally take a step forward as a Beat-maker.” 

On the title track opener, a recurring piano and percussion lines ground the drifting track as it moves across samples of 90s hip-hop and video games. “Majestic Move” is a looping, percussion-driven track that, true to its name, hustles through its movements but, like the snake in the animation, goes nowhere. “Please Think Twice,” a plaintive piano piece, fills out the first side (William’s entreaty seems to have worked: the animation shows the back of a woman seated at a table, head bowed, getting up and then thinking better of it on a loop, locked in indecision). 

The second side opens with the loudest track of the album, featuring synths by turns eerie and whimsical, sounding almost like a distorted hoot of the owl depicted in the animation. “Twilight Loud” marks the transition to the more assertive second side, continued in “Memories of Little Keys” and “Nova Fragments.” Beat Theme ends on a high note with the jazzy piano of “Gloria.” The track is soft and easy. He doesn’t demand our attention: he knows he has it already.