Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto's album 12 Conversations arrives on Noton

Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto made one more record together, and it is coming out. Noton has dated 12 Conversations, a twelve-track posthumous album, to 18 September 2026. The Quietus reported the announcement on 19 August 2026.

The music was recorded in November and December 2022, the same stretch in which Sakamoto was making 12, the last solo album he finished. He died in March 2023. The partnership behind the record was two decades old by then: it began with Vrioon in 2002 and ran through other entries in the V.I.R.U.S. series, soundtrack work, and the 2019 live album Two.

Carsten Nicolai, who records as Alva Noto, said a heavy breath can be heard in the recordings, and that the work is about continuation rather than remembrance. "The 12 pieces we exchanged in November and December 2022 possess extraordinary density," he said, describing sounds expanded, altered and put in new contexts.

Releasing it did not look possible for a long time. Nicolai said the loss felt too sudden and the emotional connection too deep, and that only as time passed did it become clear the twelve musical encounters should have a life outside the archive. He said the name Conversations was chosen for a space where past, present and future meet, and that putting the music out honours what Sakamoto wanted.

The release calendar carries the date alongside other electronic records due this autumn, among them Andy Stott's Late Loop and Djrum's turn at DJ-Kicks.

Lead track Conversation 3 went up with the announcement. The full album follows on 18 September through Noton.