S-Bend

First Word Records are proud to bring you brand new music from Werkha!

'S-Bend' is an uptempo instrumental cut comprised of Werkha's uniquely funky breaks, blending organic and electronic sounds. A weighty bassline, rising synths and spiky percussion are accompanied by a sumptuous string arrangement, courtesy of frequent collaborator Simmy Singh.

Werkha (real name Tom Leah) is a multi-instrumentalist born in Rusholme, Manchester. Additionally to his own material, he's worked on releases with Quantic, A Certain Ratio, Marcos Valle, Eska, Chunky, Andrew Ashong and extensively with Keisha Thompson and Bryony Jarman-Pinto, to cite a few.

He's played shows across the UK & Europe, touring with the likes of Bonobo, Chet Faker, Rebecca Vasmant and Mr Scruff, and gigs with Crazy P, GoGo Penguin, Todd Terje, Lefto and MCDE, as well as performing at legendary venues like The Roundhouse, The Jazz Café and Manchester Cathedral, and various festivals including Glastonbury, We Out Here, A Love Supreme and Latitude.

Previous support has come from tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson, Lauren Laverne, Zakia, Jamz Supernova, Mo Ayoub, Afrodeutsche, Scratcha DVA, Tom Ravenscoft, DJ Paulette and Julie Adenuga.

Additionally to music-making, Werkha has been working with a mental health arts charity in Stockport, as well as collaborating with Reform Radio to curate opportunites for upcoming Mancunian artists. As Werkha says, "a commercial music entity doesn't exist without a grassroots industry to propagate it".

He's also been creating and building another side-project, Saturama - a live audio-visual experience aimed at reconnecting to our rainforests in the UK, which has received support from organisations like Earth Percent, Plantlife, Manchester Museum, RSPB Haweswater and Kendal Mountain Festival.

Currently on a hiatus travelling South America, Werkha has an abundance of new material set to be unleashed into the ether; this single being the first taste of a deeply personal project exploring his own vulnerabilites, and his story of working though those.

Werkha explains "'S-Bend' is a direct reference to the bend of my spine, as a result of my scoliosis. It's an introduction to this irregularity of mine, which can cause immobilising spasms and pains in my back. It's also a nod to the places where I've made the first steps in the road to recovery. Particularly walking up the Pennine fells above S-Bends in the rivers and streams below.

It was a foot on the path to rehabilitation, on a journey to acceptance of this abnormality. The music was pieced together to give the feeling of silver linings. The bassline was one of the first things I laid down, reflecting the river moving along the valley. The synths represent the upward movement of recovery, bringing an element of hope. While my own vocal samples are in there to illustrate how I felt in those moments of shooting pain.

This piece is essentially a celebration of movement, quite literally."

Following on from previous releases on First Word ('The Rigour' EP from 2020, and the 'All Werk Is Play' LP from 2022), this track is taken from a new full-length project to be released later in 2025. More info over the coming months on that.

Werkha is a thoughtful, conscientious, talented artist, whose approach to creating is innovative, unique, ever-evolving and deeply groovy. We're very excited to present this new material to you over the coming months.

'S-Bend' is available on all digital platforms, April 9th 2025.