Avant-garde vocalist and experimental electronic music pioneer Phew has plans to perform a few shows in Europe this spring, including two shows at Rewire Festival in The Hague, one at Présences électronique in Paris and Primavera Festival in Barcelona. From what has been announced, six shows are scheduled, starting in France with the last show taking place in Spain.
Phew, born Hiromi Moritani, is nowadays seen as a legendary singer, composer and analogue electronics improviser with a body of work that spans different generations and placed her as the queen of the avant-garde. She was the founder of the punk group Aunt Sally, but since the band has broken up she has been active mostly solo. She has done collaborations with Can’s Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay, legendary krautrock producer Conny Plank, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jah Wobble, Bill Laswell, Jim O’Rourke and The Boredoms, the creation of various punk bands. In 2017, she released her first solo album in 20 years, titled Light Sleep.
After that, she kept active with releasing new material with other musicians such as Ana Da Silva and Jim O’Rourke. Live, her voice is at the commands while abstract electronics are treated directly, creating tracks that are both highly emotional and sonically challenging. In 2020 a collection of material previously released on compilations, collaborations, singles and CD-r’s only got released with the title Vertigo KO via the label Disciples, while in 2021 Mute Records released New Decade, a new solo album recorded in her home studio in the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki during the pandemic. Last year her 1992 album Our Likeness was re-released on vinyl, CD and digitally via Mute Records.
Phew Tour in Europe Spring 2024
Friday 29 March, 2024: Présences électronique – Paris, France
Monday 01 April, 2024: Alice – Copenhagen, Denmark
Thursdya 04 April, 2024: Jaki at Stadtgarten – Cologne, Germany
Saturday 06 April, 2024: Rewire Festival – The Hague, Netherlands
Sunday 07 April, 2024 Rewire Festival – The Hague, Netherlands, duo with Oren Ambarchi
Friday 31 May, 2024: Primavera Festival – Barcelona, Spain
At Rewire Festival, Phew will perform two times, one solo set where she present a new live set including voice and electronics and a day later with composer and multi-instrumentalist Oren Ambarchi.
