Lost Map Records are thrilled to welcome Bristol-based Japanese experimental singer-songwriter, instrument- maker and performance artist ICHI to the label for the release of his playful masterstroke of a third album Maru. It will be released on limited-edition cut cover CD and download on March 18, 2016, and is preceded by the single‘2 Klaxons’.

Hailing from Nagoya’s underground scene, ICHI moved to the UK and Bristol after meeting English singer-songwriter Rachael Dadd, now his wife, at a small DIY festival in his hometown. He takes inspiration for his art from far and wide – a melting-pot of punk, reggae and dub, Henri Salvador, tribal music and old scratchy 78s. With his trusty sampler never far away ICHI spends hours poised, ready to capture the perfect water droplet or page flick, a process which he describes as being “like catching an animal”.

Recorded entirely onto a four-track tape machine in his attic studio, Maru finds ICHI layering Heath Robinson-esque song-scapes crafted out of found objects and bizarre homemade instruments (stilt-bass, kalilaphone, hatbox-pedal-drum, skip-xylophone and tapumpet) with vocals depicting colourful characters. The album features guest vocals from This Is The Kit frontwoman Kate Stables, Rachael Dadd and Lost Map’s own Rozi Plain. 

TRACKLISTING

1. Hippo + 47

2. Go Gagambo

3. Wakka P

4. 2 Klaxons

5. Kinkan

6. Book

7. Foorai

8. 99

9. Toh Nan Sha Pei

10. Magic Hour