Sen Morimoto

Chicago Artist Sen Morimoto has announced his new album Diagnosis, releasing 3 November 2023 via City Slang, co-released with his own label Sooper Records. Diagnosis will be Sen's third record, following 2018s Cannonball! and his 2021 self-titled album.

Morimoto’s previous two albums gained critical acclaim, finding fans with the likes of Pitchfork, KEXP, FADER and more. Mixing jazz training with rapping and experimental musical flourishes, he has developed a signature sound that is also constantly evolving. Across his revolutionary new album Diagnosis, Sen wears many different hats while maintaining a core ethos and distinctive voice. After writing introspectively on past albums, Morimoto set the groundwork to write Diagnosis from a different perspective, looking outwards to spread joy through music, whilst tackling thorny issues about society, identity and US culture at large.

The fruit beared from Sens' first time working and recording in a professional studio, Diagnosis offers 13 tracks skipping from bright jazz-pop to intricate guitar songs, orchestral junctures to devastatingly intimate moments. On this record, Sen shows us he can rip out a sax solo, dive deep into hushed singer-songwriter territory and then lead massive, roaring alt-pop songs with equal aplomb.

Alongside the album announcement, Sen Morimoto has shared a new single of the same name alongside a music video. ‘Diagnosis’ is a sardonic take on American life, occupying a thrilling place between rapping and soulful singing. The video for ‘Diagnosis’ finds Sen walking into his convenience store job where things quickly derail into a scathing take on the commodification of identity and trauma in the music industry. The video takes Morimoto through a sell-your-soul scenario complete with specific references to current exploitation tools and more. About the video, Morimoto says:

“The video for diagnosis is an over the top story about the music industry and an artist who thinks they can fix it from within (he can’t!). I worked with New Trash again to continue the story from “If The Answer Isn’t Love” and they really brought the Faustian nightmare to life. The way the video is edited feels so true to how we experience life now. It’s a hyper-capitalist information overload where every part of your story is happening all at once.”

About Sen Morimoto

Born in Kyoto but growing up in New England, Sen packed up and moved to Chicago from Massachusetts after high school, where he spent the following years cultivating a deep relationship with the Chicago music scene at large, crossing genre lines and building bridges between them. Washing dishes in restaurants by day and sharpening his production skills by night, Sen quickly became well known in the city as an exciting ingredient to add to any musical recipe. His search for musical connection eventually led him to join Sooper Records, a local label founded by collaborators NNAMDÏ and Glenn Curran, as a co-owner of the label. The small label quickly gained notoriety in Chicago for releasing genre-blurring records and uplifting artists from Chicago’s community of musicians to international stages. They released their debut album Cannonball! and sophomore self titled album through Sooper Records which catapulted him into a life of constant touring across the US, Canada, Japan and Europe. Sen and Sooper now team up with the hugely esteemed City Slang for his forthcoming 3rd LP.