Leftfield pop, ambient music and experimental dub from Japan’s 7FO.

There’s not a lot out there about 7FO. Based in Osaka, the Japanese producer has released albums on RVNG and Métron Records and a 7″ on Bokeh Versions, but then the trail runs dry.

When he was interviewed for FACT earlier this year, 7FO told Lewis Gordon that he thinks of himself as “kuroko”, a term taken from Japanese theater that refers to the black-clad stagehands tasked with scenery changes. 7FO asks to be referred to as Kawa, but anything more personal than that is held back.

Kawa’s music isn’t easy to pin down either. Initially enthralled with club music, the producer became fatigued by the lifestyle and began using the production process to unwind. Using guitar, synthesizer and a drum machine, Kawa assembles bubbling, dubby vignettes that are inspired by natural forms. “Regularity and irregularity, running water, animal voices, the asymmetric shapes of plants and rocks,” he reveals.

7FO’s FACT mix is similarly purposeful, drifting through tracks from Japanese innovators like Haruomi Hosono and H.Takahashi and tripping over contemporary experiments from TAPES and TEREKKE, a cut from reggae legend Augustus Pablo and more. It’s a thoughtful, sublime selection for meditation and deep listening.

Moment (Selected Works 2012​-​2017) is out now on Métron Records.

Tracklist:

01. Colombia Koukaon Library – ‘Mangaon’
02. Haruomi Hosono – ‘Down to the Earth’
03. H.Takahashi – ‘Nénuphar’
04. 7FO – ‘Hou’
05. Andrzej Nowak – ‘???’
06. TAPES – ‘SPIRIT WORLD RIDDIM’
07. Mike Cooper – ‘Fratello Mare’
08. Gontiti – ‘Nickel Dance’
09. Savant – ‘Heart Of Stillness’
10. Marc Barreca – ‘Oleo Strut’
11. Ausustus Pablo – ‘Revelino Dub’
12. Susan – ‘AH! SOKA’
13. CYBE – ‘Zen-Zai’
14. Ashra – ‘MONSOON’
15. TEREKKE – ‘Tack V2’
16. Yasuaki Shimizu, Masanori Sasaji – ‘Meditation’

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