The name Shigeto, when translated from its Japanese origin, means ‘to grow bigger’. Fitting then that Zach Shigeto Saginaw should use his middle name as his recording alias, given his intricate style of instrumental hip-hop is as expansive and deep as the word would suggest.
Originally hailing from Ann Arbour (he’s now NY based), it seems right that Shigeto’s debut LP is released on the Michigan based Ghostly International imprint. Origin and surroundings have had a broad impact on this record; the glitchy and spooky hip-hop beats of Ann Arbor Part 1 conjures up cold, strange images of the city in question, whilst later Part 2 offers the album’s heaviest beats and the only MC vocals across the record.
As well as location, Shigeto draws on the progression of his contemporaries, especially the glitch-tronica of Flying Lotus and the darker, more experimental purveyors of post-dubstep, whilst never quite committing himself completely to being shoe-horned in either camp. Instead, the tracks seemingly refuse to be genre-led or built for a specific scene or sound, hopping between tone, style and inclination. Whilst making the album all the more interesting, the down side to such a diverse palette is that the album as a whole is a little difficult to digest. This is certainly no put-on, zone-out affair.
The tracks are as multi-layered and abstract as you would expect from such an introspective artist, allowing the listener to zoom in one element or sound and become completely absorbed within the track. Whether it’s the mournful ambient synths of Relentless Drag or the percussive-like use of the field samples within So So Lovely, the tracks offer a deep soulful intricacy on-top of the dub and hip-hop beats that staple the album together - the key fundamentals that weld together Shigeto's intentions and their execution.
As tracks glide seamlessly between glitchy beats to ambient soundscapes, the album seems to smoulder and smoke with an evocative air of melancholy and menace. Final track, Look At All The Smiling Faces, offers a stand-out closing chapter: a downtempo number, led by a mournful brass horn, slow broken beats and low-key snyths. This final track, painting a bleak picture of wintery New York, seals Shigeto’s album and forty minutes of bleak, introspective instrumental hip-hop that trace a journey from the cold suburbs of Michigan to the icy heights of New York.