Aili
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Aili is the Belgian-Japanese electro-pop duo consisting of Aili Maruyama and Orson Wouters. After a chance meeting at a party in 2019, they discovered they had an instant connection, their different personalities and approaches to making music inspiring each other to explore new ideas and sounds.
Instead of starting with predetermined ideas, Aili and Orson embraced a spontaneous, playful way of writing songs. They sent sounds, samples and also jokes to each other and let the music develop in unexpected ways until Aili felt the lyrics coming. To her own surprise, this led Aili to sing more and more in Japanese, or rather the unique version of Japanese she developed with her father so they could stay in touch after she left Japan at the age of seven.
The first result of their collaboration was the 2021 Dansu EP on Eskimo Recordings, the label where Orson previously worked under the name Transistorcake. Dansu's mix of underground electronic sounds and sparkling pop was an instant success. The title track was number one on Radio 1's VOX list for eight consecutive weeks and earned the band a nomination for Studio Brussel's De Nieuwe Lichting that year.
Their debut album released on February 23, 2024 and was celebrated on March 7 at the Club of Ancienne Belgique.