SHIMA’s ‘MAITAKE’ fuses freedom & Japanese folklore into playful electronica

SHIMA has released ‘MAITAKE’, the latest single from her upcoming debut album ‘WELCOME TO SHIMAJIMA’, due this September on TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art label.

The track is a mix of textured basslines, tribal drums, hypnotic flute melodies and SHIMA’s signature effervescent vocals into a vibrant journey rooted in Japanese mythology.

Inspired by a folktale about a magical mushroom with mind-altering effects, the track channels psychedelic energy and rhythmic control. But the real turning point for SHIMA came after her performance at Electric Forest this year.

“After my set, I got to actually go into the forest with my close friends and enjoy the festival as it was intended to be experienced. We had the most incredible time in the woods, just running around and getting to feel like kids again,” she says. “I decided that I wanted ‘MAITAKE’ to sound as much like that experience as possible.”

The decision to expand the second half of the track into a sonic journey came from that moment.

“All the sound design choices I made like adding bird chirping and rainforest sound FX throughout the track to make it feel more like an immersive adventure, were inspired by my experience at Electric Forest essentially living out the Japanese folktale origin of the song in real life.”

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Born and raised in Tokyo, SHIMA started her music career at 14 as part of a major-label J-pop group. Now based in LA, she’s carved out a distinct space for herself with an experimental and multicultural approach to electronic music.

“This album and the SHIMA project as a whole is an act of rebellion against my beginnings in J-pop,” she says. “It is me reclaiming control after the most restrictive period of my life.”

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Having studied Music & Computer Engineering, SHIMA brings both artistic intuition and technical fluency to her production. “My background in engineering making audio plugins definitely trained my technical side… since I was actually making the tools myself.”

‘MAITAKE’ follows her earlier singles ‘AWA’ and ‘1807’, which also draw from traditional Japanese music.

“Most of the music I’m sampling is just folk music that commoners sang while drinking, dancing… These songs weren’t owned by anybody,” she explains. “In a way, it was the dance music of their time.”

Purchase ‘MAITAKE’ here.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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