Sofheso - A RECORD (2020)

We at FT have had the big pleasure to continue our collaboration with the brutalist rhythm explorer & Forest Limit resident Sofheso. Plenty had their brains scrambled by his 2.5hr ARCHIVE release in 2018 - ("the emotional impact is that of a solitary battering ram to the gut…” - ATTN magazine / "a staggering introduction to a mysterious talent" - The Quietus) and since then we’ve been pulling together yet more irresistibly ruff & spirited one-takes from his recent sessions.

Juggernaut rhythms, frenzied vocal samples, machinegun drum programming greets us from track a.1 / ECSS, and the pressure is maintained for almost the entire record. Major bludgeoning damage is dealt on a.4 / ONJJ particularly, as chunks of subby utterance boil over into a nimble breakbeat. Moments of melodic release are spoon fed through the cracks & become euphoric - like a nourishing sip of something offered in the smoke of a 5am dancefloor.

Across 53 minutes barely 4 bars are the same - always an unseen path is taken into a fresh rhythmic possibility. Sometimes it’s abrasive & chaotic. But our seasoned technician always finds the right addition or subtraction to make sense of the tumult, and discovers new levels of blown out/up POWER where others would be timidly reaching for the gain pot.

Sofheso has been sharpening his tools since 2002 - the year of his first performance under this moniker - and it’s apparent from his new recordings and his euphoric live shows that he wields them with a rare & unconstrained intuition. He is using this 6th sense to shake rooms & bodies in his home city of Tokyo, and soon (COVID willing) also in the UK & Europe.

We were lucky enough to get over to Japan this year to do a show with him in Tokyo’s Forest Limit as part of our tour. The recording of his performance at that show will be dubbed to tape and released as part of a special edition, along with the LP and a zine of sketches by Kan Togashi - the artist responsible for the album cover (and also the cover for ARCHIVE).