Mei Semones
“Howl”
Verve / Interscope (available via Bandcamp)
If you were to put breezy Brazilian bossa nova guitar licks into a blender with a sprinkle of Django Reinhardt-level complexity and toss in some Breeders records for good measure, you’d end up with Mei Semones.
Semones describes her music as “jazz-influenced indie J-pop,” which makes sense. She sings in both English and Japanese, switching between them not only in the same song but sometimes in the same verse. Semones was born in Ann Arbor to a “father from Ohio and a Japanese mother,” according to her Wikipedia page. Her family background is all over her aesthetic and musical influences.
She’s based in Brooklyn now and getting ready to release her sophomore album Howl on January 15 via Verve/Interscope.
The title track acts as her lead single. It’s a perfect gateway drug into the musical DNA of Semones: absolute shredding on the guitar, lush string arrangements that whirl around the track unpredictably like a rollercoaster, and a steady rhythm section that gives it a bossa nova groove.
This thing is slick while being kinda weird.
First listen and it didn’t quite stick.
Second listen and I’m absolutely hooked.
This song has truly been stuck in my head all damn day.
Semones is about to take the world by storm — not just because of her sound and songwriting but also, in part, due to her twee J-pop aesthetic.
In the music video, she plays a convenience store worker in Japan who becomes a guitar-playing werewolf at night. It’s part love song to an actual lover, part love song to her guitar.
“Life’s not long enough for me to get to know you well enough
But I don’t mind, I am just happy to be by your side for now”
There’s more to chew on in a single Mei Semones song than a lot of young musicians can offer up on an entire album. Counting down the days until Howl is released in full…
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