Bleep

The title of Sugai Ken’s latest LP roughly translates as ‘slow and steady wins the race’. It is an apt entry point for the Japanese composer’s first release since 2016’s On The Quakefish. Constructed largely from field recordings made in his native Kanagawa, UkabazUmorezU is a coy album and a slow reveal. There is a clear influence of John Cage on quieter-than-quiet tracks like ‘Kugutsu Biwa’ and ‘Shinobine’. Meanwhile the starkly beautiful ‘Wakihi’ and ‘Doujiri’ have echoes of Bjork’s Biophilia.