With an impressive catalog spanning from Japanese 70s punk to industrial, avant-garde, and experimental ventures, and collaborations with artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto and members of CAN and Einstürzende Neubauten, Phew has solidified herself as a legendary figure on the international scene. Now, she visits ALICE with her latest album. Jules Reidy opens the night.

The enigmatic singer and electronic musician Phew, aka Hiromi Moritani, made her mark on the Japanese underground scene in the 1970s and has since been recognized internationally as a legendary figure. Phew’s eclectic catalog ranges from punk to industrial, avant-garde, and experimental exploits, and over the past decade, she has released a series of outstanding albums featuring vocals and electronics. Phew’s long musical career is tied together by her distinctive cool and almost-spoken-not-quite-sung singing style, which has served as an anchor in much of her artistic work and numerous collaborations, captivating the listener.

Phew started as the lead singer for one of Osaka’s earliest punk groups in 1978, Aunt Sally, and later collaborated as a solo artist in the 80s with prominent names such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Conny Plank, Holger Czukay, and Jaki Liebezeit (CAN), Alex Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten), as well as Chrislo Haas (DAF). In recent years, she has both released music and performed live with Ana da Silva from The Raincoats, Jim O’Rourke, Oren Ambarchi, Ikue Mori, and Yoshimi from OOIOO / Boredoms / Saicobab.

Phew’s latest release is the impressive solo album “New Decade” (Mute Records, 2021), recorded in her home studio in the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki during the pandemic. With an intense storm of dense electronics and mysterious vocals, the album is at once dystopian and oddly human. We are proud to present Phew when she visits ALICE in April.

Jules Reidy
The Australian Berlin-based Jules Reidy makes music for processed and acoustic instruments and challenges any fixed ideas of what “guitar music” can be. Their recent work can be described as a series of non-traditional song forms that combine unstable harmonic territories, rhythmic elasticity, and abstract narrative overstretched and episodic forms. Their recent records include In Real Life (Black Truffle, 2019), Vanish (Editions Mego, 2020) World in World (Black Truffle, 2022), and Trances (2023, Shelter Press). Notable performances in the last couple of years include the Tectonics Festival (Athens, Greece), Send/Receive Festival (Winnipeg, Canada), and Berlin Jazz Festival (Berlin, Germany), and Jules Reidy is now ready to take the stage before PHEW.

Said about Jules Reidy
“Properly singular material that fuses Reidy’s immense knowledge of American primitive folk music with microtonal experimentalism and abstract pop vocalizing. Decidedly uncool, and all the better for it – RIYL Bill Nace, Heather Leigh or Teresa Winter.” – Boomkat, 2022

ALICE at Stairway
While the concert hall at Nørre Allé 7 is undergoing renovation, ALICE is located at the music venue Stairway in Vanløse.