Kishi Bashi creates beautifully complex, layered, orchestral pop that sounds like it comes straight out of the beak of some magical bird you’re happy to be near but fear looking at straight-on.
Or it comes from some really talented guy. One or the other.
Not dissimilar to last week’s featured artist Sin Fang in style or form, Kishi Bashi trends to upliftingly soaring sounds that build from enchantingly sparse quiet to whirring, shimmering choruses that make the listener feel like they’re caught up in a cyclone of melodic sounds.
Kishi Bashi is actually a pseudonym for violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, Kaoru Ishibashi, who usually shortens his first name to K and was most well-known prior to last year as a supporting musician for acts like Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and Athens, Georgia’s of Motreal. Though Ishibashi was born in Seattle and grew up in Norfolk, VA—this writer’s home town—he now calls Athens home as well.
Though he’s just wrapping up a North American Tour, you can likely look forward to seeing him again live next spring as he supports his sophomore full-length. In the meantime, enjoy his recently released digital two-song EP, Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It! and download or order his stellar debut, 151a—awesome cover art for that below.
Also below, the title track from Ishibashi’s two-song EP and the video for “Bright Whites”—a stand-out track from 2012’s 151a—about strange steampunk-y mustachioed carnival-goers + two birds who just want to be free…and eat cake.
