Simple Sentences

Touch, light, sound: the sensation of these three senses flowed like an electric shock the first moment this instrument was picked up by saxophonist, composer and electronic producer Shoko Igarashi.
Three senses sublimated into art by a single electronic device : the Yamaha Tenori-on.
Pieces composed by layers and repeated sequences intricately, and sometimes simply channeled through the musician.
A single note becomes one song just as many small fish can gather to become one big fish: simple but complex. Sequences which gradually morph into new realities.

released July 7, 2023

All songs are composed by SHOKO IGARASHI in Brussels with TENORI-ON (Yamaha).

Mixed by Maximilian Sink
Mastered by Yves Roussel
Graphic and artwork by McCloud Zicmuse

Released by Faneca Music

Project Tenori

I must admit, this song was inspired by the Nintendo game “Metroid Dread”. Apparently, I often get subconsciously influenced by video game soundtrack as it comes out in some of my compositions. For this track I tried to combine house music with ambient electronica. All drums are from the internal presets of the Tenori-on, which I found were great.

05 Dread

04 Darkness

03 Yuki Onna - 雪女

The core influence of this track is early hip hop. I designed the beat to create a clear contrast between the first and second section, in which the drums goes from a swing to a straight feel. This song also includes sounds recorded from an FM synthesizer (MEGA FM) connected via the Tenori-on's midi output. That was so much fun to connect an external synth with the Tenori-on in order to make different sounds but still use its unique sequencer. There I had opened a door to endless sound design possibilities.

02 Fake Jazz

01 01

Viṣṇu - विष्णु

Viṣṇu - विष्णु

KAYU

Downstairs

With Kayu

With Kayu 2

With Kayu 3

Nap Music

Cyber Gagaku

Last Haiku

Rainy

Shoko Igarashi - Rainy

08AppleBanana

05Monochrome Chronicle

04Shokoism

03Comfy Place

02Anime Song

01Sand Dungeon

Shoko Igarashi was born in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. An accomplished tenor saxophonist, she is also a versatile flautist and plays alto and soprano saxophone fluently. She has already made her mark as both an arranger and a composer.
 
Shoko grew up surrounded by dreamlike landscapes of abundant nature in the snowy
countryside of Tsuruoka, a mysterious and surreal region renowned for producing the best quality rice in Japan, where she says, “the water and the air feel the purest and where mountains and shrines overflow with ancient mysticism“. After beginning her musical career in Tokyo, she attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree of music. 
She then relocated to Brooklyn, New York where she began regularly performing live alongside innumerable talented jazz musicians. In 2018, she moved to Brussels, Belgium and founded the group Maniac Maison with her partner, pianist Casimir Liberski, and guitarist Lucien Fraipont.
 
Since 2018, Shoko has written and compiled a series of well-crafted, colourful electronic
songs curating diverse influences such as Sly and the Family Stone, Earth Wind & fire,
Japanese City-Pop, 70s jazz fusion, and the anime film music that she grew up learning to play. Her nimble and seamless assembly of these very different elements into her unique sound is astonishingly natural. 
In addition to her primary group Maniac Maison, Shoko worked with Belgian synth-pop band Telex’s founding member and producer Dan Lacksman on her first official solo Album. Her first Electro pop album released from Tigersushi records on May 2022. 

五十嵐祥子　山形県鶴岡市出身。10歳の頃にサックスを吹き始め、高校進学とともに上京。2012年にはバークリー音楽大学に進学。卒業後はニューヨークでの演奏活動を経て、2018年にベルギー、ブリュッセルへ移住。デビューアルバム、シンプルセンテンセスが2022年にパリのレコードレーベルTigerSushi recordsよりリリースされた。

Shoko Igarashi

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