Saka has released his imaginative new five-track Anti-Hero EP today on NGHTMRE and SLANDER’s Gud Vibrations imprint. The innovative, cinematic and dynamic EP channels the complexities of the anti-hero with five unique and hard-hitting tracks.
“I wrote most of the ‘Anti-Hero’ EP over the course of my return to Hong Kong during the pandemic,” Saka explained, “The tracks explore my increased engagement/resonating with the anti-hero archetype as I’ve gotten older. I’ve taken inspiration from across the 140-172 realm (a place in bass music I find for interpretation of the world as so, Kafkaesque). Combining this sonic palette along with anti-hero archetypes from some of my favorite characters across different media led me to writing this. While not my first multi-genre EP, I feel as if this represents the first step in the evolution of my sound.”
Within only five songs, Saka crafts a blockbuster release with a clear beginning middle and end. There’s the suspenseful opening track, “Anti-Hero,” the chaotic second chapter, “Exia” and lead single “Masamune” spearheading the album, building excitement for the songs to follow. Meanwhile “Shaolin” comes in like a whirlwind before Saka enlists from emerging artist Aido on the final awe-inspiring track, “Yin”.
“I’ve always drawn inspiration from swords and ancient martial weapons in general, so for ‘Masamune’, I was inspired by Goro Nyudo Masamune, acclaimed to be Japan’s greatest swordsmith ever,” he said of the third song, “According to legend, Masamune’s ‘holy swords’ would discriminate between good versus evil and would be the sharpest and strongest when used on the latter but would be unable to cut the former.”
He continued, “‘Yin” is about accepting the good with the bad; the ugly and the beautiful. Aido and I wrote this over the course of a late night until daybreak, and the song very much follows that timeline. It begins with a guttural, grotesque bassline and progresses into a heavily melodic soundscape and beat—the only way out of the shadows is by embracing it.”