Saapato - Decomposition: Fox on a Highway (2025)

While working a job that required frequent drives between Philadelphia and a remote warehouse to sort furniture, Brendan Principato, the artist behind the project Saapato, noticed a fox on the side of the highway that had been struck dead by a car. Its vibrant red coat stood out against the asphalt. Day after day, the fox remained there, gradually transitioning from serene lifelessness to an unrecognizable state, a haunting reminder of nature’s cyclical processes.

This encounter sparked a year-long exploration of decomposition—not merely as a biological process but as a metaphor for transformation, interconnectedness, and renewal. The result is Saapato’s forthcoming album, a deeply conceptual project inspired by the five stages of decomposition: fresh, bloat, active decay, advanced decay, and dry/remains. In researching decomposition, Principato learned about the intricate network of factors that drive it: animals, bacteria, fungi, temperature, moisture, and time. Recognizing the inherently interwoven nature of these forces, he chose to mirror this interplay in the music. What began as a series of foundational “skeleton tracks” that Principato produced quickly evolved into a collective endeavor, with a wide array of guest musicians and sound artists contributing additional processing and instrumental textures to Principato's source material. These collaborators act as symbolic “decomposers,” breaking down and reshaping the sonic landscape to create an altered final form of the music found across the album.

The album features contributions from an extraordinary roster of artists, including Laraaji, Shuta Yasukochi, Loris S. Sarid, James Bernard, marine eyes, KMRU, Diatom Deli, Haruhisa Tanaka, Ki Oni, Green- House, Golden Brown, Early Fern, Gregg Kowalski, Kallie Lampel, Ben Seretan, Patricia Wolf, and Nailah Hunter. Each artist adds their own unique perspective, resulting in an evolving, organic soundscape that captures the delicate balance of creation and decay.

The result is not only a sonic journey but also a philosophical meditation on the interconnectedness of life, death, and renewal. In the process of decomposition, nothing truly disappears—everything transforms, sustains other life, and/or persists in some form. This ethos permeates each moment of the album, inviting listeners to reflect on the beauty of impermanence and the cycles that shape all living things.