Shigeto produces organic electronic music traversing jazz, hip-hop, house, and IDM, often integrating field recordings and familial themes. During his live performances, he frequently veers from his electronic equipment and lays down jazz-rooted rhythms on his first instrument, the drums. He made his full-length debut in 2010 with the cosmic hip-hop of Full Circle, establishing his long-term affiliation with hometown label Ghostly International. Later releases such as 2017's The New Monday concentrated on more club-friendly material, while 2019's Versions paid direct homage to his jazz roots. A keen collaborator and supporter of developing artists, Shigeto has also recorded albums separately with trumpeter Dave Douglas and rapper ZelooperZ, and he and his brother Ben Saginaw co-founded the label Portage Garage Sounds.

Shigeto, born Zachary Shigeto Saginaw, was exposed to jazz and R&B through his father's record collection. While still a youngster living in Ann Arbor, he picked up the drums and eventually got involved in the Detroit-area music scene. Several years later, after attending New York City's New School and living in London, England, he started working on electronic music. Based in Brooklyn, he linked with the Ghostly International-affiliated Moodgadget label and issued EPs with A Setting Sun, and as Shigeto and Frank Omura. His first album as Shigeto, however, was released on Ghostly -- a label that had inspired him since its early-2000s inception. Full Circle, a bright and knotty cross-section of left-field hip-hop, IDM, ambient techno, and post-dubstep, was released in November 2010. It was around this time that Shigeto joined School of Seven Bells on tour as the band's drummer.

Shigeto's productions became increasingly melodic, graceful, and jazz-inflected on his next Ghostly releases, including 2012's Lineage -- issued the year he returned to Michigan -- and the following year's No Better Time Than Now. In 2015, Shigeto collaborated with jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas on the electro-acoustic album High Risk, appeared on Heathered Pearls' Body Complex, and released his own Intermission, a modest six-track EP. He subsequently co-founded Portage Garage Sounds with brother Ben Saginaw (of Ritual Howls) and recorded as ZGTO with rapper Zelooperz (of Bruiser Brigade). In October 2017, only two months after the arrival of ZGTO's A Piece of the Geto, Shigeto released his third Ghostly album, The New Monday. Titled in reference to a weekly DJ night held at a Detroit venue, the record reflected a multitude of inspirations -- including the likes of house masters Moodymann and Theo Parrish -- with a communal perspective.

An EP titled Weighted appeared in 2018, and two more arrived in 2019: a self-titled house 12" released by Vanity Press Records and the Ghostly-issued Versions, containing jazz arrangements of earlier Shigeto compositions. A limited 7" single with early inspiration Dabrye, and similarly short-form digital releases such as the two-track We Could Be Outside and Andrés collaboration "The Approach," were scattered across 2020 and 2021. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi