Fugue State has shared “So What Is There?”, the third single from the debut album ‘After Nothing Comes’, arriving May 22 via Switch Hit Records. The track foregrounds Javanese singer, composer, and educator Peni Candra Rini, whose presence shapes the song’s most arresting moments. A John Kim-directed music video accompanies the release, and it’s as disorienting and compelling as the music deserves.
The track traces back to a recording session at Figure 8 Studio, where Langa and Rini worked through material introduced via album co-producer William Brittelle. “There was a powerful, cathartic energy that came through in the performance,” Langa recalls. That session ultimately shaped the sequencing of the entire record. Rini’s voice cuts through the album’s dense, maximalist soundworld like a signal breaking through static.
Fugue State is the project of Northampton, MA-based composer, producer, and engineer Dan Langa, built around an obsessive process of recording, deconstructing, and reshaping studio material into spectral, barely recognizable forms. The whole thing started with an unplaceable five-syllable sound Langa found buried in session recordings, something he couldn’t identify or reproduce. That mystery became the methodology. The album moves between ambient saxophone, chamber dub, and fractured art song, with contributions from multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and singer-songwriter Maia Friedman (Dirty Projectors, Coco).
‘After Nothing Comes’ is a record that rewards close listening and resists easy categorization, which is exactly what makes it worth your time. The release show happens May 30 at Ki Smith Gallery in New York City, with BlankFor.ms opening. It’s an intimate room for a record that demands attention.
Tracklist:
01 “Warmer”
02 “In This Moment”
03 “Everything Happens Again”
04 “Floating”
05 “We Are Lasting”
06 “Dark”
07 “The Dancer At Midnight”
08 “So What Is There”
09 “He Was Always So Precise”
10 “Reflections”
Upcoming Shows:
May 30 – New York, NY @ Ki Smith Gallery (w/ BlankFor.ms)