Chicago genre jumbler Sen Morimoto has unveiled his first new music since his 2020 self-titled album. For Morimoto’s forthcoming third LP, he is also announcing a partnership with City Slang and releasing “If The Answer Isn’t Love,” a sort of jazz-rap track with a video that finds Morimoto and his guitar high above a cityscape.

“In the face of imminent climate disaster, war and unending sickness it’s natural to start considering what will remain and what might have made it all worth it,” Morimoto says of his new track. “I want the sound of my music to reflect that same urgency – instruments warbling and splattered over the beat, melodies tangled and contradicting. I wrote this song about the enduring power of love and the struggle to hang onto that feeling when in crisis.”

Morimoto adds of the video, which is co-directed with New Trash:

Up until my first tour in Japan, I washed dishes for a living. I would daydream all day at work about being a full time musician. My fantasies were sweet and naive, mostly just pop culture references glued together, stuff I’d seen in movies and music videos. It wasn’t until I started touring full time that I realized how long the road is from being a working musician to building a life in music that is actually sustainable, which has become even harder as touring proves itself to be a gamble with bad odds, even for more established acts. I wrote this video concept as a kind of tongue-in-cheek visualization of those mid-shift daydreams. I’m dreaming of this big guitar solo in the sky, but even my fantasy is insecure, balancing on a rusted beam with no support.

Watch and listen to “If The Answer Isn’t Love” below.

TOUR DATES:
05/28 – LUaroo Festival @ Appleton, WI
06/16 – City Slang Thirty Three Festival @ Berlin, DE
06/21 – Sled Island Music Festival @ Calgary, AB
07/21 – Pitchfork Music Festival @ Chicago, IL

“If The Answer Isn’t Love” is out now via City Slang and Morimoto’s Sooper Records.