As a producer, vocalist and DJ, Tokyo-based Sapphire Slows has a sound that is both indelible and difficult to neatly categorise. Taking cues from minimal, electronica, ambient and off-kilter pop, her own music feels greater than the sum of these parts, combining an unerring sense for space, detail and atmosphere with slow-motion melodies and heady, cosmic vocals to create something personal and truly unique.
Since starting to produce music in her bedroom in 2011, Sapphire Slows has released an impressive body of work, with LPs, EPs, tracks and remixes coming out on the likes of Not Not Fun, 100% Silk, Kaleidoscope, Nous, Kalahari Oyster Cult, ninih and most recently AD 93.
As a live performer and DJ, she has been similarly prolific, with numerous European tours under her belt, along with regular showings in China, Australia, the US and naturally, her home country of Japan. The diversity of artists with which she has shared the stage (from Lena Willikens, Objekt, Svreca and Ben UFO to Laurent Garnier and The xx) is revealing, and further proof of the chameleonic qualities of her music.
Recently recorded at OATH in Tokyo, Sapphire Slows’ Patterns of Perception 79 is a warm, carefully crafted and kaleidoscopic narrative that perfectly captures the many shades of her unique sound. Flitting between cinematic ambient soundscapes, emotive vocals and breezy after-hours energy, these 59 minutes sway comfortably across dappled layers of sunlight and shade, finding a solid underpinning in the swelling melodies and textural layers that are so tightly linked with her own visions.
Credits: Recorded at OATH Tokyo, Mastered by Hiranya Access Sapphire Slows' Links: