#Phew music software
Since going on to work individually, her visions have been followed through with a genre-hopping string of experimental albums carried on till today, in Kanagawa, where she combines both software and hardware with prophetic vocals. Her explorations have spanned decades, involving collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto and members of prominent experimental German bands-those of Can or Einstürzende Neubautens-all the way up to working in isolation underneath the dystopic energies of 2020/2021. As a part of the cult Kansai label Vanity Records, her visceral avant-garde post-punk experimented with the techniques of amplified sound, using the newly available audio equipment of Japan’s tech boom and grating against the bubbly sheen of its pop culture. Phew, or Hiromi Moritani, has been a glowing figure within obscured histories since the 1970s, when she fronted Aunt Sally in Osaka’s underground scene. In her ritualistic solo work, Phew’s vocals exist liminally, between utterance and deadpan, English and Japanese, echoing but reaching nowhere. Through the feedback of old synthesisers, drum machines, and a trembling guitar, New Decade projects a stony void rather than a lively provocation.
Phew’s voice is always bounded by the metal hum of technological civilisation. A celebrated figure within a lineage of Japanese post-punk and noise, in her first return to Mute Records in 30 years, Phew projects a wavering identity via the sombre dronescape of New Decade. Even as things take a strange turn, Phew’s music can resonate at its own frequencies.
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