When supremely gifted guitarist Mateus Asato announced he was talking a break from music and closed his Instagram account in early 2021, we wondered when and how he'd return. Well, the good news is he's back with a relative flurry of activity.
Following a performance of his new composition The Cure late last year posted to YouTube, and an instrumental take on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, he's back with a beautiful version of one of the Beatles' all-time greatest compositions, In My Life on his Mayones Legend T22 model.
When Asato posted his original instrumental The Cure late last year, the guitarist took a moment to reflect on returning from his time away. "Thank you so much for the love and welcoming words," he began. "After all this time being away, I decided to show a little bit of what I've been working recently.
"I made this song two months ago and it became inevitable to share it with you - it is still very simple but I was made with true feelings. I don't wanna be the one who keeps saying 'I can't wait to show my new music' or 'new album coming 2022' but I just wanna say that I've been in a good place, happy with most of things I've learned this past year.
"Keeping it up with the essence of 'why I make music' could be hard and it faces brutal vulnerability, especially during these weird season we live now. But I feel great after this time off - and I hope my music could transmit that at its purest. Thank you so much once again for staying with me in this virtual platform. I will see you soon, hopefully sooner than we expect."
We're glad to see him back!
Get the MusicRadar Newsletter
Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.
Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.