Album Review // Mei Semones // Animaru

Bayonet Records

Once in a while, an artist comes along so wholly unique, bringing seemingly disparate elements together in a way that feels almost effortless. Mei Semones is one of those artists. The 24-year-old Brooklyn-based singer and guitarist's debut LP is a jaw-dropping blend of jazz (bossa nova in particular) and indie rock ('90s-influenced bedroom albums in particular), sung in both English and Japanese. It seamlessly code-switches between intimate acoustic recordings like the lullabies of "Donguri" and "Sasayuka Sakebu" and the orchestral layers of "Dangomushi" or the thematic banner anthem of "I can do what I want." Semones fuses the relaxed vocal delivery of Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail with the chamber pop of Black Country, New Road and the Dirty Projectors and the warm virtuosity of bossa guitarists like Luiz Bonfá and Baden Powell. It's a marriage that feels totally irreplaceable from anyone else but her – this is a sonic experience that only Semones is fully qualified to lead. Her five-piece band includes violist Noah Leong, violinist Claudius Agrippa, bassist Noam Tanzer, and drummer Ransom McCafferty, with the recurring string sections adding a tonal cohesion that makes the album even more singular.