| Format: | 12" |
| Availability: | PRE-ORDER |
Japan-born, London-based composer-producer Hiro Ama releases his new EP Booster Pack, out now via PRAH Recordings. Where his previous record Music For Peace & Harmony explored spacious, meditative soundscapes, Booster Pack is an energetic, groove-driven statement, a deliberate move toward music designed to get the body moving while retaining the textural detail that defines his work.
Opening track “Booster” sets the tone: a percussive, rhythm-first piece that builds into propulsive, rave-leaning momentum. It was the seed that shaped the rest of the EP, establishing a new direction rooted in groove, movement and physicality.
On the EP, Hiro explains that “After releasing ‘Music for Peace and Harmony’ I wanted to create something completely opposite. Something dancy, something intense. A total 180-degree flip. The album was all about stillness, subtlety, and emotional resonance. This time I wanted to lean fully into energy, fast paced songs, and groove. Create something that I never created and something that could shake you awake rather than calm you down.
“Instead of beginning with piano or harmonic ideas which is usually my starting point. I focused purely on beats and rhythms in the beginning. I didn't add any chords or melodies until I felt happy with the drums and groove layers. It was a new approach for me and it pushed me to think about music more physically and less emotionally.”
The EP features earlier single “Lava”, a rave-inspired, rhythmically intense track built from pulsing bass and a siren-like synth, designed to create tension, energy and movement while keeping the groove at the forefront.
Across the rest of the Booster Pack EP, Hiro leans into percussion, deceptive rhythmic patterns and taut bass to create forward drive; each track begins with groove before melodic elements arrive, resulting in a record that trades reflective stillness for kinetic urgency while maintaining his compositional precision.
"Talk about a handbrake turn from his 2024 debut album Music For Peace and Harmony (a record full of electro-acoustic warm textures bordering on ambient and spiritual jazz); Japanese producer-composer Hiro Ama has gone rave nuts on his new EP. Harmonic-free lead track ‘Lava’ is a pure banger. Like, it literally bangs. On and on. Thumping to a sample of a police siren. Play it really loud, but not when you’re stressed." - Loud & Quiet
"‘Booster’ is both cerebral and groove-abiding and doesn’t compromise on the granular detail of Hiro’s more meditative past works.....The accompanying ‘Booster Pack’ EP is a mission statement, teased with the rave-leaning, intense momentum of early prelude single ‘Lava’." - Clash
