S16

That long-awaited sophomore Woodkid album. Through his new album S16, Woodkid questions the notion of scale, from infinitely large to infinitely small, the balance of forces between human and industrial, and the idea of collective and individual responsibility for creating a world on the verge of breakdown.

S16 was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, and other locales including Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles, and Iceland, also calling upon Tokyo’s Suginami Junior Chorus to find just the right opening for one particular passage. Its name alluding to the chemical symbol and atomic number for sulfur in physics, S16 questions matter itself; what are our cells, our hearts made of? Where is the boundary between reality and fiction? Sulfur is, indeed, an essential element for living things, but liable to burst into flames. Like the ardent suffering stoked by music, which can then soothe, like being wrapped in a hug.