Yukihiro Fukutomi Equality

• Words: Luciana Lopez
• Label: Pantone

Fukutomi‘s long career in house shows in the sharp production and well-planned pacing on his ninth album. Though the tracks mostly share a warm, vocal house vibe, Fukutomi‘s been at this long enough to make an album that‘s coherent without being bland. The title track, for example, features spoken word vocals from Rich Medina so deep they could be the track‘s bassline, while "All Over The World" rises from a laid-back funk foundation; the more tech-leaning "The Tambour" drives a bit harder without upsetting the album‘s balance. But Fukutomi knows when to keep things simple, too, as in "Killing Time," about two minutes of quiet synths-no beats, no vocals, no bassline-that somehow shift the album‘s whole mood.