- One of London's finest club producers reveals his softer side.
- As heard in both his productions and breathtaking DJ sets, Akito is one of London's rhythm connoisseurs. He's known for effortlessly blending fierce drum arrangements with slinky UK funky rhythms or hard-edged breaks, though he can still impress doing pretty much any other style. His latest project, Harbour, offers a look at the softer side of his sound.
Akito channels the slow-paced energy of his 2019 single "Cawing Over The Cherry Blossom Tree" in these seven tracks created during lockdown, and it makes for a pleasant surprise. There's an overarching relaxed feel to the collection, creating a sense of mindfulness, allowing the listener to fully absorb the elegant arrangements he's put together.
"Perpetual Esc," for instance, features delicate piano keys that glide along with faint rainfall snippets and buried strings—you feel like it might go on forever. "BM5W," on the other hand, sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a nature documentary where the predator pursues its prey, the scattered handclaps depicting the triumph of the capture. With Harbour, Akito shows how he can make laidback tunes that are just as distinctive as the club-heavy tracks that set him apart from the London pack.