Shigeto © Carlo Cruz/Red Bull Content Pool

Shigeto is the solo project of Detroit-based musician/producer Zachary Saginaw

This year, he has played many big festivals around the world, including Soundwave, What The Festival, and Movement

Having recently moved from Brooklyn to Detroit, he says the Motor City has profoundly impacted his new music

Shigeto's new album, 'No Better Time Than Now,' is out August 20 via Ghostly International

Like his previous full-length albums, 'Full Circle' and 'Lineage,' the new one is deeply autobiographical

Zachary Shigeto Saginaw, who makes music under the name Shigeto , has played several big music festivals this year in both the US and abroad, including Croatia's Soundwave, Oregon's What The Festival, and Detroit's Movement. Each festival, says Saginaw, has its own vibe. But the 30-year-old multi-instrumentalist/producer has noticed big differences between stateside and European fests.

“Soundwave was amazing,” he says. “It seemed more simple, and the people were just there to see the music, and eat good food. It was much less crazy than festivals in the US, with less people running around in costumes on acid. I'm down with both, but it was just a lot more… I don't know, sometimes in the US I'm super-overwhelmed by the festivals because they're in the middle of the desert, and you need bug spray and goggles, and some dude is running around with a bearskin cape.”

I decided to move from Brooklyn back to Michigan, specifically to Detroit. I got a new studio here, which made a huge contribution to the sound of the album. The whole album was written in Detroit...

But Saginaw survived the the bearskin cape dude. And the new Shigeto album, 'No Better Time Than Now,' is out August 20 through Ghostly . The last two Shigeto LPs, 2010's 'Full Circle' and 2012's 'Lineage,' have both been explorations of Saginaw's familial history and Japanese ancestry. For the new album, Saginaw focuses more on himself, and some of the big changes he has gone through in the past year, both professionally and personally.

We recently spoke with Saginaw about the new Shigeto album, and how his move to Detroit has had a positive impact on his music.

Your last album, 'Lineage,' had a very explicit theme: you were exploring your Japanese heritage. Does the new album have a theme, too?

At the time, I wasn't thinking about it. But now there's definitely a theme. In a way, it's just me. It's almost like a diary of the last year of my life, but not on purpose. When I sit back and look at the work, that's what it is.

What was the last year like for you?

There have been a lot of changes. I've been the busiest I've ever been in terms of work and shows and everything that comes along with being a musician. I also ended a very long relationship: my fiance and I split. Not to get too deep, but I wrote most of this album shortly after we split up. I had these ideas brewing, but there wasn't anything pushing me to get it done, and that's where the title came from: 'No Better Time Than Now.' When that happened, it was like, “Well, now's the time to finish this because you don't have anything else to do.”

I also decided to move from Brooklyn back to Michigan, specifically to Detroit. I got a new studio here, which made a huge contribution to the sound of the album. The whole album was written in Detroit; there was no carryover from Brooklyn.

The sound all came from the studio, and it was the first time I've been able to have all my instruments in the same room and ready to play – guitar, bass, Rhodes, electric piano, kalimba, dulcimer, xylophone, lots of percussive instruments, my Micromoog, a machine drum, pockets synths from Critter & Guitari, live drums. So this new environment really contributed to the creative process. It is a very organic album, primarily using live instrumentation rather than loops or samples.

Almost all of my work is personal. I think everyone wants something personal. That's why we watch stuff like reality TV. People want to know the bad shit; they want to know why people cry.

Has Detroit – the city itself – had an impact on the sound of the album?

Definitely. The impact it had was that it had less impact, if that makes sense. When I lived in New York, I got subconsciously influenced by all the energy and crazy stuff happening around me, and all the entertainment. In Detroit, I still feel connected – I'm not off the grid – but I feel free from the everyday outside influence. I also feel more alone, in a good way. A lot of my friends out here who do music, we all do different stuff, whether rock or techno or hip-hop. I feel more alone here doing what I do as opposed to being in Los Angeles, where a lot of people are doing something similar.

I think Detroit really helped me make the most honest, genuine music I've made so far. Maybe people won't agree with me. But for me, this new album is the most free from outside influence than anything I've done before. In the past, it's like I was trying to sound like something, or intentionally going for a certain sound, but this album just sounds like me. Detroit has a lot to do with that, and I don't think I would've found this sound if I'd stayed in Brooklyn.

Part of what I do, and what I think my fans enjoy, is that my music allows people to create their own world. Lyrics tell you what world you're in: “We are here, this is about heartbreak.” Instrumental music is different, but I feel like I can still make very personal connections with only music.

Like your last album, it sounds like this one is very autobiographical.

Yeah, I guess I'm really corny. I think being personal is my comfort zone. I get weirded out by myself when I try to create a persona. Almost all of my work is personal. I think everyone wants something personal. That's why we watch stuff like reality TV. People want to know the bad shit; they want to know why people cry. It's therapeutic for me, and it's also a way to let people who are interested in my music come into my life. I let them in, but I don't give away too much. I don't feel too exposed, but I'm still vulnerable.

That is also one of the benefits of making instrumental music: there is no lyrical narrative, so you do not have to reveal too much.

Exactly. I've had tracks with lyrics, but me and Ghostly have agreed that they just don't fit well within the context of my work. Part of what I do, and what I think my fans enjoy, is that my music allows people to create their own world. Lyrics tell you what world you're in: “We are here, this is about heartbreak.” Instrumental music is different, but I feel like I can still make very personal connections with only music.

In the past, you have used field recordings. Did you do so on the new album?

There are definitely bits and pieces of them all over, but they're not as obvious as some of the ones I used in the past. For instance, I once took a recording of a whole conversation and reversed it, and had it going throughout an entire section of a song. But this time it is more like smaller percussive bits and white noise from field recordings.

There's one outro, on the song 'Miss U,' and it's a sample of myself and my ex-fiance walking through a field in the middle of the night in the south of France with all these crickets, and you can hear the bells from the collars of goats in the distance, and you can hear our footsteps. Overall, though, this album has more live instrumentation, and is more organic sounding.

People don't normally talk about finding peace in Detroit, but it seems like you have.

I'm a weird dude. Everyone here is here for reason, and they get something from this place that they can't get from somewhere else. I'm originally from Ann Arbor, but I've always felt drawn here. My father grew up here, my grandfather made his life here, so for me to finally be here, even in the state it's now in... well, the city has had this vibe for a long time, but it's changing for the better.

It's still affordable, so I can travel as much as I do, and still have a place to live and a studio here. I've never had a separate place to work, so that's a game changer. And I like isolation, and being separate from all the noise, but also being connected in a city environment. Detroit is rebuilding itself, so that's a good place for me to be. It's the perfect place for me right now.