Sastrugi

First Word Records are proud to bring you 'Sastrugi' by Werkha; the 4th single taken from his forthcoming album, 'Unsung Irregular'.

'Satrugi' is a gloriously calming two-minute instrumental piece, comprised of rhodes, strings and sax, with an under-stated rhythm track and ethereal vocals to guide it along.

In Werkha's words "Sastrugi are beautiful, abstract shapes caused by the erosion of snow by the wind. This arctic-like scene is commonplace on my favourite fell.

This sanctuary of mine transforms in these conditions, creating a dreamscape-like world, with ice crystals navigating the air around me. It's a place of healing, enhanced by seasonal changes. In the summer this fell is filled with the songs of skylarks, which seems such a distant scene in short subzero winter days like these.

'Sastrugi' is the first song I made for this album. It's the first song directly confronting my body's ability to freeze, disabling me from movement.

This was the tipping point that inspired this project. So it holds an incredibly important place for me.

Musically, it started its life as 'improvisations on a theme', the idea being that this could be spread between musicians with them taking the prerogative on exactly when phrases might fall.

I shared the music with up to 30 young musicians from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Hearing the themes scaled up and improvised around gave exactly the sense I was hoping for. Later that day, I performed the piece with Myra Brownbridge & Matthew Holmes amongst others.

The true drifting nature of these shapes stood strong. This was the support I was looking for from this music.

In that place, in that moment, everything seems so distant; that feeling of being immobile, frozen, filled with pain, melts away."

A beautiful soundscape, transforming a personal moment of pain into bliss, and a track that hits arguably even more poignantly over this hot Summer, giving you another flavour of the depth & diversity displayed in Werkha's new full-length project; a contrast to the more uptempo dance-orientated tracks released previously.

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Werkha (aka Tom Leah) is a multi-instrumentalist born in Rusholme, Manchester. His previous releases on Worldwide Award-winning independent London-based label First Word Records include 'The Rigour' EP (2020), and the 'All Werk Is Play' LP (2022), carrying on from his initial output on the Brighton-based Tru Thoughts label.

He's had previous support from a wide range of tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson, Nemone, Don Letts, Jamz Supernova and Zakia (BBC 6 Music), Mo Ayoub (BBC Radio 1), Julie Adenuga, Scratcha DVA, BBC Manchester, Worldwide FM and Rinse FM.

Alongside his own releases, he's collaborated and remixed with Quantic, A Certain Ratio, Marcos Valle, Eska, Chunky, Andrew Ashong and extensively with Keisha Thompson and Bryony Jarman-Pinto, to cite a few.

Werkha has done full band and solo performances across the UK and Europe, touring with the likes of Bonobo, Chet Faker, Rebecca Vasmant and Mr Scruff, and sharing billing with Crazy P, GoGo Penguin, Todd Terje, Lefto and MCDE, gracing stages at legendary venues like The Roundhouse, The Jazz Café and Manchester Cathedral, and various festivals including Glastonbury, SXSW, We Out Here, A Love Supreme and Latitude.

Additionally to playing live, Werkha is a formidable DJ, recently doing a mix for Selector Radio (British Council) and previously for the likes of Tom Ravenscroft & Afrodeutsche (BBC 6 Music), NTS, Primavera Sound and Reform Radio.

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Werkha is a thoughtful, conscientious artist, whose approach to creating is innovative, unique, ever evolving and deeply groovy.

'Unsung Irregular' is Werkha's third full-length studio LP, and is comprised of 11 tracks showcasing his unique blend of jazzy breakbeat-tinged electronics and analogue aesthetics. It includes previous singles 'S-Bend', 'Toast Rack', and 'Everyday (feat. Ríoghnach Connolly)'.

'Sastrugi' is available on all digital platforms on August 7th, with the album dropping on vinyl & digital on October 10th.