Grinning Cat is a beautiful electronic album from prodigious Japanese producer, Susumu Yokota. It borrows liberally from the melodic melancholy of classical music and features subtle drum loops throughout. We interviewed him about the artwork that he creates for each release. I asked Yokota about the simple but striking cover art, something that he has become synonymous with through all his albums: ‘I used to work as a graphic designer and planner. I take a long time to make my album artwork. It’s minimal design though. I’m looking at my design artwork while producing music every day. It took six months to decide the balance for the black frame, white edge, and the picture of the boy and the tree. The album design is decided from my intuition’. So what do you listen to at home? ‘I listen to the song again and again to decide when it is finished. I listen to the album at least a hundred times and make changes little by little. So I don’t have much time to listen to anyone else’s music’.

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