UK producer Kevin Richard Martin aka The Bug and Japanese vocal artist Hatis Noit first joined forces during a Late Junction live collaboration session last year, resulting in four extraordinary pieces — including the arresting Saisho no Arashi — broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in December 2018.

Premiered exclusively via The Wire magazine in form of a free download ahead of their debut live performance at Le Guess Who? Festival 2019 in Utrecht, the pair shared their paranormal first cut After the Storm, which is now available on their label’s 15th anniversary compilation Erased Tapes 十五.

Martin recalls: “Hatis Noit's impressionistic approach, tonal brilliance and kaleidoscopic spectrum, evoked voices I had loved in the past. Whether it echoed the mood of Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares or the beauty of Liz Fraser, it even navigated the eerie spaciousness of Japanese Gagaku traditions that I enjoy so much, so I just knew I was happy to collaborate with her, as she had outgrown her influences and blossomed into an extraordinary talent. 'After the Storm', was a track we first sketched at the initial radio session but was later fully formed in my Berlin studio. In these times of climatic turbulence and socio-political upheaval, its deep seismic sonic flow and haunting melodies are a hymn to the stranded, offering comfort to those in need of solace.”

The meeting of Hatis Noit’s bewitching vocal explorations and Kevin Richard Martin’s sacramental synthesis of sound for a world exclusive live performance is sure to lift their respective virtues to perplexing new levels.

“As a solo vocalist and voice artist, I’d always dreamed of floating and being drowned in a beautiful sonic storm. And then I met Kevin Martin,” Hatis Noit adds.

Summer 2022 saw the two reunite live for Grace Jones’ Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre in London, and they are currently working on completing their first full-length release.