Berlin-based modular synthesist JakoJako (aka Sibel Koçer) has shared a new track, ‘Dragon Bridge’ from her forthcoming album, Tết 41, out on limited edition vinyl and digitally on 25 April 2025.
Named after the longest suspension bridge in Vietnam, Cầu Rồng, a 666m long structure which was designed to breathe fire and water every weekend, the track’s playful atmospherics were inspired by Koçer’s first journey to Vietnam and her very personal reflections on the country.
Talking about the track, Koçer explains, “I wrote this track in Da Nang on the day the Dragon Bridge spit fire, it was pretty spectacular and special for the people there and us, especially as we were there in 2024, the year of the dragon. After watching, we went home, and I wrote that tune.”
Tết 41 is, in many ways, a distillation of ideas Koçer has been exploring for many years. Tapping into a deep understanding of machine-based music and illuminated by references to her heritage, the album reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core. The album was created with a minimal hardware set up, and from this simplicity emerges some of her most expansive, unworldly compositions to date.
Koçer explains, “I wanted to collect the atmospheres of Vietnam, and strip it back to my language – electronic music. I don’t have huge ties to the traditions of my Vietnamese family, so being able to experience them with my mother, and then bring the Lunar Celebration – the colourful flowers, food and customs – back to Europe through music has helped me realise how important this side of my heritage is.”
A big part of her production process lies in searching for spontaneity, which was heightened during the creation of this album – on just a Eurorack and a Waldorf Iridium Core. Whilst normally she would have a computer to mix and arrange the record, the effects and sequencers of the gear became her tools. She expands; “The more you play with a single machine the more you get to know it. You’ll get muscle memory and play it more like an actual instrument, instead of treating it as a tool.”
Opening and closing with field recordings taken during the Lunar New Year celebrations, she uses the space in between to cast new frameworks, allowing melodic cycles to flow autonomously. Rhythmic fragments weave between analogue processing and harmonic distillations, swirling in organic cycles of warehouse maximalism and sonic minutiae that speak to the somatic and spectral in equal measure.
Engaged in a constant dialogue around the use of hardware in music, JakoJako’s artistic output is informed by the tension and release of techno, but ultimately propelled by ever-expanding forms and structures that play with the contours of the genre. A producer, live artist and DJ who has held a residency at Berghain whilst touring some of the world’s most respected electronic music institutions, she delves into the mathematical patterns of arpeggios and loops, locating kinetic energies that convert into moments of dancefloor catharsis.
Infinitely curious about the threads that connect different genres, as opposed to the rigidity of genre itself, Tết 41 is driven by a desire to document the potentials of analogue and modular synthesis, and to consider new contexts within which these could exist. It’s also a bold and generous vision of new sonic worlds.
JakoJako’s Tết 41 is out on Mute on limited edition vinyl and digitally on 25 April 2025.
JakoJako’s Tết 41
- Xin chào
- Kumquat
- Lì xì
- Hoa đào
- Ghi-Ta
- Đà Nẵng
- Dragon Bridge
- Chim sẻ
- Gió
- Cảm ơn
JakoJako DJ and live dates can be found HERE
