Released on January 21st on Mouthwatering Records, the album traces monthes of audio recordings through the South-African city, like pages torn out of a diary, shuffled like a deck of cards and then laid out on the table in new configurations.
“Memory is a creative act, not counting the input as catalyst it’s almost entirely based on the faculties of the imagination.” That’s how Holowez, the latest release from Swiss producer Dejot should be understood: as a creative negotiation between a sonic document of actual events and its human memory analog. The project started with a harddrive of 40something songs that the artist recorded during a 3 month long stay in Johannesburg back in 2016.
The production process turned the raw material into the final version of the record, revisiting and reshaping the initial compositions as it was about applying some of this dub logic to the fabric of the actual memories.
“I started to build an imaginary world in my head, a mixture of what I documented withmy photos, all types of latent impressions and, of course, my memories. It was as if I was creating a different take on reality, and this reflected in the music.” says Dejot.
The album blends textured ambient works, evocative field recordings with lo-fi electronica, while evoking its South-African influences, sometimes through polyrhythms, sometimes through the sonic ambiances. It also features the strange and captivating Moonchild Sanely, and Zimbabwean artist Rober Machiri a.k.a Chi.
“I wanted to make something mystical and visually driven, like a progressive sequence of scenes. This is also why there are no breaks between the songs. The experience of listening to the record should feel like you’re reading through my diary.” – Dejot
A month after releasing Hollowez, Dejot unveils another full length, this time full of radio tailored bangers and vocals, called Uhujano, also recorded in Joburg.
Holowez was released on January 21st on Mouthwatering Records. Order it on Bandcamp.
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