Browse by Artist: FOURCOLOR

Artist:	FOURCOLOR
Title:	Letter of Sounds
Label:	12K
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	12K 1038CD

"Following the release of his work as part of the electro-acoustic quartet Minamo on 12k and the proto-pop outing under his new moniker Filfla (Plop, 2005), Fourcolor (Keiichi Sugimoto) is back with his second release on 12k, Letter of Sounds. His previous work, Air Curtain was a critical success selling out the first pressing in little over one month. On Air Curtain, Fourcolor explored new directions, building upon delicate, implied rhythmic structures moving away from the strictly drone-based material on his debut CD Water Mirror. With Letter of Sounds, Sugimoto pushes his sound even further by bringing the rhythms more to the foreground and taking influences from his previous, more pop-based work, as Filfla. The album uses many dominant rhythmic structures such as on the opener '02' which couples catchy guitar harmonic hooks with sliced melodic beats, or the beautiful 'Rowboat' in which Sugimoto collaborates with long-time friend Naoko Sasaki/Piana (Happy) using a variety of instrumentation and vocals. Similarly, a majority of the work on Letter of Sounds finds itself working around tight, syncopated micro-rhythms. Of course Letter of Sounds is not without its delicate undercurrents and warm, stretched-out, whispy tones that have become signature to Sugimoto's sound (the gorgeous finale 'Frame'), but his desire for a more up-front and structured approach continues the evolution from a style he has mastered into new, more challenging territory, and expands his palette as an artist."

Artist:	FOURCOLOR
Title:	As Pleat
Label:	12K
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	12K 1065CD

"Fourcolor is the solo project of Keiichi Sugimoto (Minamo, Filfla) and should be well known to the 12k audience with his two previous releases, Air Curtain (2004) and Letter of Sounds (2006) both highly regarded and now out of print, which established him as one of the label's leading roster figures. As Pleat takes the familiar sound of Fourcolor and explores some subtle new sonic territory. It's as tonal and warm as always but he expands on his style by including more fractured, accidental sounds and an obvious growth in experience and talent. What makes Fourcolor's music so engaging is how Sugimoto manages to coax a lovely spectrum of sounds from his guitar without it ever sounding too over-processed or digital. From bubbling, low bass that provides a foundation to woven harmonies, pulses, and shimmers, there is a rich palette of sounds created. Add in a bit of careful, jittery skip-editing and implied rhythms and a groove starts to emerge from the ambience. Hints of his poppier Filfla project also come into play once again as Fourcolor brings in some guest-vocals courtesy of Sanae Yamasaki (aka Moskitoo) who lends her angelic voice to 'Quiet Gray 1' and 'Iris (Familiar)' adding further dimension to the works. As Pleat is unquestionably Fourcolor, but there is a pillow-like quality to the sound, a softness that plays beautifully off of the more organic edits and sharper plucks that all combines to create the most engaging Fourcolor album to date."

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