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Much of Yoshimi's previous output explored ideas of alienation around the megalopolises of East Asia. Records like Tokyo Restricted Area (2016) conjured dark cinematic spaces where drones and percussive trills competed for attention within air thick with industrial fumes and neon light. Fragile in contrast is a much more spacious, orchestrated and avant-garde affair. This shift in style is evident from the first track Disappearance which opens with a blast of radio static before taking in tightly sequenced musique concrete, atonal synth fragments and string glissandi. The distended orchestrations and drones of Buried Rivers and the ferociously staccato sawing strings and percussion of εποχή and Driven show a strong influence from the kind of contemporary soundtrack composition currently produced by the likes of Ben Frost and Hildur Guðnadóttir. Occasionally, the shear atonal force of these tracks pushes them out the other side of soundtrack composition up towards the realm of hardcore modernists like Xenakis and György Ligeti.

Fragile does maintain a common thread of Yoshimi's work in that it sprinkles the occasional nod to traditional Japanese instrumentation and singing which we hear in the distant chants and dry rattling percussion of Undissolvable Things. Elsewhere Decreasing takes a step deeper into the soundtrack world, adding plaintive piano to pathos dipped string swells and contrabass. And on Lost from the Era sequenced electronic percussion adds a layer of head nodding motility to the orchestral palette. Remnant and Reversed Dreamt return to the queer abstraction of the opening track, sequencing deftly processed orchestral phrases against electronic and acoustic sounds within a highly composed and dynamic space. There are a few FM type synth sounds in the mix which hints at a trace of the 1980s soundworld so beloved of producers within the "post-Vaporwave" set. The latter track adds deconstructed female voice to its mix of screwed Taiko-like percussion and dead-eyed drones.

With its high production values, composerly disposition and an emphasis on quality over quantity Yoshimi's work has always stood out from the majority of producers associated with the Post-Vaporwave movement. If Fragile is anything to go by he has now entirely transcended it. Fragile is a record that deserves to be heard widely.