Animaru

インディーロック、ボサノバ、ジャズ、チェンバーポップを融合させた独自の音楽性を磨き続ける彼女は卓越したギタープレイを前面に押し出しながら、今や革新的な音楽の才能として急速に注目の存在に。Liana Flores、Elephant Gym、Kara Jackson らと共演し音楽活動に完全に専念する決断した彼女は5人編成のバンドと共にアルバムを制作。今作は作曲家・演奏家としての幅広い才能が存分に発揮されていて、ギターでテクニカルなプレイを披露する瞬間もあれば、シンプルな楽曲で心を打つ場面もある。アコースティックギターとウッドベースのデュオによるジャズナンバーもあれば、主に日本語で優しく歌い上げる楽曲も収録。

Around the time she was finishing up a degree in jazz guitar from the Berklee College of Music, Mei Semones put together a band made up of classmates and recorded her first EP, Tsukino (2022). It introduced her sophisticated, strings-enhanced take on affectionate indie pop. By the time she made her Bayonet Records debut with her second EP, Kabutomushi, in 2024, she had a regular, collaborative backing band made up of a violist (constant member and strings arranger Noah Leong), violinist, bassist, and drummer, and had strengthened her beguiling sound -- specifically, an indie pop injected with an effortless blend of breezy bossa nova, intricate jazz, and mathy indie rock. Another idiosyncrasy of her music is lyrics that go back and forth between English and Japanese within a song (Semones grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, speaking Japanese with her mother). Arriving less than a year after Kabutomushi, her full-length debut, Animaru ("Animal"), sees Semones again rachet up the complexity of her singular sound and her songcraft. It begins with "Dumb Feeling," an uptempo, indie-inflected bossa tune with the albums first surprise scat break. While a few of the songs here are somewhat confrontational, this one isnt, embracing that weird feeling ("Theres something I like about it"). Later, "Tora Moyo" ("Tiger") is a love song to music and her guitar. It sounds like a possible movie theme from the 60s -- at least until the noodly guitar solo -- as she sweetly sings with a wispy voice made for twee, "My hands are yours/No other use for them/If this isnt love." That song is the perfect setup for the stunning "I Can Do What I Want," a virtuosic showstopper that may have invented the style kawaii prog. There, she establishes a casual confidence thats part of the albums charm, balancing out its more pining moments. Another example of this interplay is the regretful "Rat with Wings," which admits, "Sometimes I miss you still/Even though you were a rat," before firmly declaring, amid orchestral hard rock riffs, that shell never want them back. Elsewhere, "Zarigani" ("Crayfish") is a tribute to non-romantic love, namely hers for her twin sister, and "Donguri" ("Acorns") offers a bit of a breather with a stripped-back arrangement of guitar and upright bass underscoring Semones fantasy of life as a woodland creature. Throughout Animaru, Semones and her band play with dynamics, dramatic pauses, chord voicings, harmonics, and a steady stream of surprises -- the closer is a waltz -- resulting in a memorable debut thats much more likely to delight than challenge. ~ Marcy Donelson