I Am Robot and Proud – “Kira Kira Zig Zag” (audio) (premiere)

Toronto artist Shaw-Ham Liem has been making music as I Am Robot and Proud since the early 2000s, and the prolific electronic musician has a new album coming out this week called Light and Waves. One track in particular, the effervescent “Kira Kira Zig Zag”, is worth noting not only for its gently percolating melody, but the fact that it was written with Liem’s full live band for a change.

“Most of my songs are made with just me and a bunch of gadgets,” Liem explains, “but this is one of the first ones that was conceived of and put together with my live band (Robin Buckley drums, Mike Smith bass, Jordan Howard guitar). i think the character of the tune comes from that interaction, the fun of making music with your friends. the phrase ‘kira kira’ has a double meaning, as it’s both the indonesian word for ‘guessing’ and the japanese word for ‘sparkling’.”

Light and Waves can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp.