Aili^(BE)

Aili schopte het recent tot finaliste van De Nieuwe Lichting 2021 op Studio Brussel. Ze omschreven haar als volgt:

"Het heeft zin om te zingen in je moedertaal: kijk naar artiesten als Het Zesde Metaal en Brihang. Die klinken voor veel Antwerpenaren al lekker exotisch. Maar niets zo exotisch als het Japans van de Antwerpse Aili. 'Dansu' is een lekker plakkerig en opzwepend nummer, perfect om je huiselijke dansvloer op te warmen. Haar Gentse kompaan Transistorcake zorgt voor de beats, die zo uit de studio van de broertjes Dewaele zouden kunnen komen. Of zoals ze in Japan zeggen:これは「新しいバッチ」になる可能性があります。"

For this project Belgian-Japanese artist Aili has joined forces with Belgian producer Transistorcake. The pair has been working through lockdown to record their debut single 'Dansu'. Effortlessly bringing together elements of Kosmiche Musik, Acid House, Electronica, Disco & Leftfield Pop, the track is as easy on the ears as it is hard to categorise.

“We had been batting our musical ideas back and forth whilst locked in our flats earlier this year trying to get the music right. At one point I started singing over the top of ‘Dansu’ in Japanese, I’m not really sure why but it just came out like that and everything started to click,” Aili explains.

“I left Tokyo for Belgium when I was 7 years old and in many ways my Japanese stayed at that level. When I sing in Japanese it put me into this naive, almost childlike mindset that allows me to express what I feel right away. You don’t need to understand the words just the feeling that they convey.”

'Dansu' is a hymn to dancing the night away, made more poignant being written and recorded as Brussels’ club sat shut. Over a taut Motorik rhythms Aili’s hushed vocals blending perfectly with lambent washes of synths to create a hypnotic, languorously funky, track.