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06/03/2019

Kishi Bashi: "Marigolds" / OMN Featured audio

Kishi Bashi's concert at The Old Church Concert Hall on June 14th is sold out. Listen to "Marigolds"

We are told:

Acclaimed violinist and singer/songwriter Kishi Bashi is turning "hard history into memorable music" (Smithsonian Magazine) with his forthcoming album Omoiyari, out May 31st on Joyful Noise Recordings. Listen to latest single "Marigolds". Omoiyari is a thoroughly researched art piece that reckons thematically with the country's past internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, exploring the parallels between 1940's America and the current US administration's constant talk of walls and bans. Kishi Bashi immersed himself in history, visiting former prison sites and listening to the stories of survivors, while developing musical concepts along the way. Read Smithsonian Magazine's fantastic profile on Kishi Bashi and the process of creating Omoiyari, noting his "ability to soulfully build complex, layered sounds into pocket symphonies," here. Lead single "Summer of '42" debuted at NPR Music and saw additional praise from USA Today, Noisey, Brooklyn Vegan, and others. Listen here.

Omoiyari carries heavy material but is optimistic and encouraging at its core, as Kishi Bashi uses the music within to primarily express empathy, compassion, and understanding as a way to overcome fear and intolerance. "I had trouble finding an English title for the piece," he says. "Omoiyari is a Japanese word. It doesn't necessarily translate as empathy, but it refers to the idea of creating compassion towards other people by thinking about them. I think the idea of omoiyari is the single biggest thing that can help us overcome aggression and conflict.”

Omoiyari is Kishi Bashi’s fourth album — following the acclaimed 151a (2012), Lighght (2014), and Sonderlust (2016), which have garnered serious acclaim from outlets including NPR Music, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian — and his most important yet. With this release, he hopes to encourage listeners who hold some economic or social privilege to be aware of their own role in creating change. As Mark Twain once wrote, "history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." Omoiyari encourages listeners to confront a difficult past in order to nurture empathy for a brighter future.

He'll be performing at The Old Church Concert Hall on Friday, June 14. The concert is sold out.

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