FourColor
Moko
CD & Download
Cat. no. TON1002
Release Date: March 21, 2025
01. Stof [featuring Moskitoo]
02. Between Nil
03. Setsuna
04. Atto Drop
05. Float On Numeral
06. Stationary Velocity
07. Humid Leap
08. Misty
09. Unintersect
10. Thousandth Key
All tracks composed and mixed by Keiichi Sugimoto. 01: lyrics, co-composed and vocal by Moskitoo. 03, 05, 09: voice materials by Moskitoo. Mastered by Keiichi Sugimoto. Artwork and photography by Kurt Liedwart.
TON is thrilled to present “Moko”, the eighth album by FourColor, the solo project of Keiichi Sugimoto. With a remarkable discography spanning labels like 12k and Apestaartje, FourColor has established itself as a master of blending processed and raw guitar chords, drones, synthesizers, and samplers into a warm, evocative, and deeply immersive sonic landscape. “Moko” continues this tradition, yet it also marks a new chapter in Sugimoto’s artistic journey.
The album’s ten tracks are meticulously composed and arranged, yet they retain a sense of spontaneity and generative energy, capturing the essence of Sugimoto’s creative process. For the opening track, Sugimoto collaborates with Moskitoo, a longtime friend and frequent collaborator, whose ethereal vocals add a hauntingly beautiful dimension to the music. While “Moko” may evoke comparisons to “Superstition” by Minimo & Mosquito, it stands apart as a distinctly personal work, reflecting Sugimoto’s intimate engagement with his own sonic materials.
Throughout the album, Sugimoto navigates a delicate balance between softness and intensity, weaving together fragile details of electric, electronic, and acoustic sounds. The result is a collection of songs that feel both expansive and introspective, inviting listeners into a lush, intricate soundscape. Rather than dissecting the nuances of each track, we encourage you to immerse yourself fully in the soft, mesmerizing maze that Sugimoto has crafted. Moko is an album that rewards deep listening, offering a profound and emotional journey through its richly textured layers.
FourColor
Keiichi Sugimoto is an artist and composer from Japan and plays in several sound projects such as FilFla, FourColor, Minamo and Fonica. His compositions have been released from record labels throughout the world such as 12K (US), apestaartje (US), Tom Lab (Germany), and HEADZ (Japan). He has also toured extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, the United States, and Canada.
He has provided numerous tracks to films, visuals, plays, exhibitions, television, web commercials, and company videos. In 2004, FourColor provided the music for director Jun Miyazaki’s Frontier, appearing at the Cannes film festival. In addition, the film won the “Young Viewpoint” award during the director’s week. In 2006 at the France Aix-en-Provence film festival, Keiichi Sugimoto won the original soundtrack prize, for his soundtrack of Whirr, a film by German director Timo Katz. By 2007, these achievements had lead Sugimoto to be registered to the French film composers association (U.C.M.F).
In addition to his artist activities, in 1999 he established Cubic Music, a record label to release music and to organize events. Some of the artists he has released include World’s End Girlfriend, Kyo Ichinose, Piana, and No.9. He has also been active in inviting foreign labels and artists to perform in Japan, as well as organizing tours for international labels such as 12K, Häpna and Tom Lab.
Artist Statement
It is not too difficult to appreciate the melodies of the piano. We have all been familiar with for such a long time, and to notice it as “beautiful”. But when you hold piano strings inside of a piano, wrapped around each other, it makes a dull, dim sound, and you realize a different appeal that is separated from the way it originally sounds. My music is a quest in search of these new, unique, and funny sounds underneath, that would attract listeners, not only to perceive beautiful sounds as beautiful, but by layering each of the sounds delicately, it would form original subtleness and textures. By composing them together precisely, they are transformed into “music”: Harmonies and dis-harmonies, vagueness and clearness, digital and analog, necessity and accidents. My aim is to deal with these opposite factors on the same level to create a unique music.
FourColor
Moko
CD & Download
Cat. no. TON1002
Release Date: March 21, 2025
01. Stof [featuring Moskitoo]
02. Between Nil
03. Setsuna
04. Atto Drop
05. Float On Numeral
06. Stationary Velocity
07. Humid Leap
08. Misty
09. Unintersect
10. Thousandth Key
All tracks composed and mixed by Keiichi Sugimoto. 01: lyrics, co-composed and vocal by Moskitoo. 03, 05, 09: voice materials by Moskitoo. Mastered by Keiichi Sugimoto. Artwork and photography by Kurt Liedwart.
TON is thrilled to present “Moko”, the eighth album by FourColor, the solo project of Keiichi Sugimoto. With a remarkable discography spanning labels like 12k and Apestaartje, FourColor has established itself as a master of blending processed and raw guitar chords, drones, synthesizers, and samplers into a warm, evocative, and deeply immersive sonic landscape. “Moko” continues this tradition, yet it also marks a new chapter in Sugimoto’s artistic journey.
The album’s ten tracks are meticulously composed and arranged, yet they retain a sense of spontaneity and generative energy, capturing the essence of Sugimoto’s creative process. For the opening track, Sugimoto collaborates with Moskitoo, a longtime friend and frequent collaborator, whose ethereal vocals add a hauntingly beautiful dimension to the music. While “Moko” may evoke comparisons to “Superstition” by Minimo & Mosquito, it stands apart as a distinctly personal work, reflecting Sugimoto’s intimate engagement with his own sonic materials.
Throughout the album, Sugimoto navigates a delicate balance between softness and intensity, weaving together fragile details of electric, electronic, and acoustic sounds. The result is a collection of songs that feel both expansive and introspective, inviting listeners into a lush, intricate soundscape. Rather than dissecting the nuances of each track, we encourage you to immerse yourself fully in the soft, mesmerizing maze that Sugimoto has crafted. Moko is an album that rewards deep listening, offering a profound and emotional journey through its richly textured layers.
FourColor
Keiichi Sugimoto is an artist and composer from Japan and plays in several sound projects such as FilFla, FourColor, Minamo and Fonica. His compositions have been released from record labels throughout the world such as 12K (US), apestaartje (US), Tom Lab (Germany), and HEADZ (Japan). He has also toured extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, the United States, and Canada.
He has provided numerous tracks to films, visuals, plays, exhibitions, television, web commercials, and company videos. In 2004, FourColor provided the music for director Jun Miyazaki’s Frontier, appearing at the Cannes film festival. In addition, the film won the “Young Viewpoint” award during the director’s week. In 2006 at the France Aix-en-Provence film festival, Keiichi Sugimoto won the original soundtrack prize, for his soundtrack of Whirr, a film by German director Timo Katz. By 2007, these achievements had lead Sugimoto to be registered to the French film composers association (U.C.M.F).
In addition to his artist activities, in 1999 he established Cubic Music, a record label to release music and to organize events. Some of the artists he has released include World’s End Girlfriend, Kyo Ichinose, Piana, and No.9. He has also been active in inviting foreign labels and artists to perform in Japan, as well as organizing tours for international labels such as 12K, Häpna and Tom Lab.
Artist Statement
It is not too difficult to appreciate the melodies of the piano. We have all been familiar with for such a long time, and to notice it as “beautiful”. But when you hold piano strings inside of a piano, wrapped around each other, it makes a dull, dim sound, and you realize a different appeal that is separated from the way it originally sounds. My music is a quest in search of these new, unique, and funny sounds underneath, that would attract listeners, not only to perceive beautiful sounds as beautiful, but by layering each of the sounds delicately, it would form original subtleness and textures. By composing them together precisely, they are transformed into “music”: Harmonies and dis-harmonies, vagueness and clearness, digital and analog, necessity and accidents. My aim is to deal with these opposite factors on the same level to create a unique music.