Hakushi Hasegawa Taps KID FRESINO for New Single 'Gone'

Japanese musician Hakushi Hasegawa/長谷川白紙 (they/them) releases a fourth single, “Gone” featuring rapper KID FRESINO, from their new album Mahōgakkō/魔法学校, their first full-length album for Brainfeeder, out July 24th. Previous singles include “Boy’s Texture,” “Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi),” and “Departed.”

Like the previous Mahōgakkō singles, “Gone” stays true to form in that it doesn’t have a set one. Flurries of percussion and deep, metal-esque bass keep the track in constant motion, its elements united by their intense energies. Hasegawa’s pitch-shifted voice seems to flutter above the beat, popcorned above it by the thrashing drums, while FRESINO’s cuts through the noise with determined conviction.

Hasegawa themselves admits that describing the track doesn’t come easily: "I have released a new song called ‘Gone’ that I made together with KID FRESINO. I feel that this song is the one on the album that I wrote with the least idea of what was going on. There is so little I can explain about it, except that it is running anyway. Also, I will be on the tour called Mahōgakku upon the release of Mahōgakkō . KID FRESINOwill be with us for the Osaka and Tokyo shows. Perhaps it would be something like me trying as much as possible to see how I myself can respond to the album Mahōgakkō. I look forward to seeing you(Oh wow. Done.)" 

Mahōgakkō, translating to “Magic School,” finds Hasegawa pushing their boundaries to the absolute limit, with hyperspeed jungle and breakcore traded up for the even more pummeling onslaughts inspired by Tanzanian singeli so that they become just another texture in the wild sonic landscapes. And just when your senses are bordering on overloaded, Hasegawa gives you a moment of sweet reprieve before the roller coaster sets off again with hectic syncopations and harmonic jumps not for the faint of heart.

“The balance is probably the only thing in my work that is intentional and very important to me,” shares Hasegawa. “In many of my songs, I use a scale that I personally call the ‘Explanatory Ratio’ to guide my work. This is not a sophisticated musical theory at all, but simply a subjective scale that looks at the balance of sounds that are explainable to me and sounds that are not explainable to me, and whether or not they are distributed in the ratio that I set for each piece.” 

Their invented theory results in Mahōgakkō’s noisy experimentations with its influences, which include jungle, J-pop, and singeli to conjure its frenetic sound. Impressively, the eye of this sonic maelstrom revolves solely around Hasegawa, who taps only a few select collaborators to enliven their vision. Those who caught lead single “Mouth Flash” will recall bassist Sam Wilkes added depth to the track juxtaposed against Hasegawa’s high-pitched singing. The lone featured vocalist rapper KID FRESINO lends his voice to “Gone,” where FRESINO’s determined flow seems to ground the skittering drums from spiraling out of control. NYC-based jazz composer Miho Hazama likewise lends her own form of control to “KYŌFUNOHOSHI,” guiding horns and saxes brought in by Yohchi Masago, Ryo Konishi, and Tomoaki Baba (J-Squad).

The past year proved a year of exciting firsts for Hakushi Hasegawa. Brainfeeder announced their signing in July 2023 and shared a single – “Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)” – featuring bass by the super-talented Sam Wilkes (Leaving Records). A few days later, Hasegawa blew fans away, making their debut at the iconic music festival Fuji Rock in Japan. In September, they created the soundtrack for both the Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter Noir Kei Ninomiya 2024 runway shows for Comme des Garçons at Paris Fashion Week, and in November, they were the focus of a cover-to-cover takeover at Yuriika [Eureka] for that month’s issue of the historical Japanese literary magazine specializing in poetry and criticism. To top the amazing year off, Hasegawa shared a warmly received cover of Paul McCartney’s eternal holiday anthem, “Wonderful Christmastime.”

About Hakushi Hasegawa

Consistent with Brainfeeder’s ethos of seeking out artists operating outside the confines of genre since the label started in 2008, Hakushi’s music is tricky to categorize as it straddles a few genres: alternative, electronic, jazz, pop/J-pop. Sometimes it’s pretty, at times it’s very intense and fast-paced. Releasing music since 2018, they’ve already made a name for themselves domestically in Japan with a string of wonderfully wild releases and started to build a cult following internationally. Collabs to date have included Kid Fresino, yuigot, TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA, Yukichikasaku/men, and Eye from Boredoms.

Photo credit: Naoki Takehisa - @takehisanaoki

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