Last Thursday, Brooklyn-based alt-jazz singer Mei Semones arrived down under to kick off her first-ever Australian tour. Coming off of her celebrated debut album, Animaru, she was set to play six dates across Aus and New Zealand, selling out tickets to her Sydney shows within days.
Semones’s meteoric rise to prominence in indie music feels both poetic and refreshingly authentic. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Semones immersed herself in New York’s music scene, juggling studio sessions, gigs, and part-time work. Drawing from her studies and inspirations, her distinctive sound emerged, forming a rich tapestry woven with elements of pop, jazz, math rock, and multilingulism.
However, what resonates with her fans is her ability to capture the absurdities and complexities of everyday life. Her songs often deal with the ambivalence of not knowing all the answers and being unsure of her feelings. In tracks like ‘Dumb Feeling’ and ‘I can do what I want’, Semones’s lyricism reads like a stream of consciousness, questioning whether her experience is unique or even special. In an age where we’re drowning in information and made to endure figurative theatres of posturing, it’s refreshing to hear an artist so earnestly announce she’s as uncertain as the rest of us.
Back to Thursday. The show was at the Lansdowne Hotel, in the cavernous upper room. I was unaware of that latter piece of information. Thinking I’d arrived early, I stood downstairs, watching a band of scraggily uni students blast out a cover of Pearl Jam’s ‘Jeremy’. Though they sounded great, I was 99% certain that this wasn’t the right gig.
Acting on my gut feeling, I made my way upstairs to a packed room. This was more what I had imagined. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder, mushed together like grains of rice from a convenience store onigiri. The energy in the crowd was buzzing. Within minutes, Semones and her band made their way on stage. With the composure of seasoned athletes, they coolly set up their instruments. Semones took a breath before her fingers danced up and down her guitar, playing the opening notes of ‘Itsumo’.
The evening consisted of Animaru highlights, freshly released singles, and unreleased tracks. Part of Semones’s magic is her ability to sonically transition from airy to thudding. In one moment, the crowd was swaying along to the breezy ‘Tora Moyo’, the next, they were bouncing off their knees to the anthemic title track, ‘Animaru’. Her band didn’t miss a beat, keeping in step as she played cascading arpeggios chased by fuzzy chords. Semone’s vocals sounded just as whimsical and evocative as they do on record. Whether in Japanese or English, the crowd cheerily sang along to every lyric.
Towards the end of the set, Semones wiped the bangs from her eyes and asked the crowd, “Where can we get dimmies?” on behalf of one of her bandmates. Before she could tilt her ear to listen, the crowd lovingly hurled a bunch of Yum cha suggestions at her. She sheepishly thanked everyone before ending the set with the gorgeous ‘Kodoku’ and ‘Sasayaku Sakebu’.
Afterwards, Semones made her way to the merch table to sign vinyls, CDs, and T-shirts. As each person made their way up, she thanked them for coming. The gratitude and sincerity with which she embraced her fans were humbling to witness. Judging by the long queue that had formed and beaming smiles plastered across everyone’s faces, the appreciation went both ways.
🐀🪽/10
Special thanks to the good people at The Glow, Handsome Tours, and especially Bligh for making this happen. For everything Mei Semones, make sure to follow her @mei_semones. Animaru is availble on all streaming services and can be purchased here.
