Mei Semones has mastered the art of shimmering music. Soft colorings radiate the room anytime she strikes a note. Her luscious chords and intimate verses, combined with her refined talent for harmonizing Japanese and English lyrics, make Semones special. She wraps the listener in her silky melodic hues and, no matter where you are, you feel the warmth of her voice.
In an interview with Semones, we dwelled on what aspects confront her musically, in terms of composing, hitting a writer’s block, and how she works through them. We discussed her musical inspirations to the meaning of her work; our conversation set a concrete tone on who Semones is as an artist and what she wants people to take from her music.
Semones has a variety of musical styles, combining indie-pop with elements of jazz. “I started playing piano when I was 4, and around 10 or 11, I switched to the rock guitar and later on joined the jazz program at my high school.” Taking inspiration from greats like John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Nirvana, and the Smashing Pumpkins, Semones channeled their energy into her own music. Semones is unabashedly a lover of pastels; nevertheless, she still holds an edge to her aesthetic that reminisces her rock inspirations. Sheepishly, she revealed that her songwriting began in middle school, and like most artists, she admits it wasn’t great. Regardless, she continued to write, and the rest is history. Her musical horizons shifted rapidly from classical to bossa nova as she got older, a genre she continues to incorporate into her work today.
She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, but much of her artistic practice is influenced by the music scene in Boston, Massachusetts, where she attended Berklee College of Music. There, she began writing music that helped develop her work, inspired by her surroundings in Boston’s music scene. Semones confessed that her favorite element of performing it is simply being with her band and feeling their energy. “It just feels so good,” she remarked.
Mei Semones doesn’t write your typical love song, and often doesn’t know what she is writing about until she finally sees the final product and can reflect. In a way, her creative process manifests her future. As she explained to me, “Depending on the situation, the song makes more sense to me later on than when I wrote it.” As a talented poet, Semones also experiments with writing imagery-based music, creating worlds through illustrative lyrics. She grounds her work in nature, and much of it highlights the spiritual relationship between people and our surroundings. In her recent double single, Shinju/ 真珠, she sings: “Bloom like an iris in the moonlight.”
Her first single Hfoas was a turning point for Semones. It was the first time she merged Japanese lyrics with jazz in her songwriting. The downy strokes of the guitar and Semones’ delicate, dreamlike voice make the piece an exciting debut. Her heritage plays a large influence on who she is as an artist—Japanese composition has allowed her to find her own voice and unique sound. Semones speaks Japanese with her mom, helping her stay connected with that part of herself.
Semones’s first EP, Tsukino, means ‘of the moon’ in direct English translation. In this EP, there is a song with the same title. Semones disclosed that the reason for the name is the inclusion of the lyric, “月の笑顔” which translates to “the smile of the moon.” As we digressed on the most difficult song to finish, the same song came to mind. Semones talked about a common creative process for her in which there is an idea that she wants to explore, but she doesn’t know how to develop it into a whole song. To overcome that, she tries both English and Japanese lyrics and in the process, inspiration comes to her naturally.
In an overall tying of strings, Semones talked about the themes her music encompasses. She plays on the line where mundane hardships are skillfully turned into refined love poems. In one of her most popular songs in this EP, Semones sings, “I don’t want to another thing that you can forget about” in her piece Kodoku, deeply vulnerable, with velvety chords of the violin creating a glimmering atmosphere that only she can create.
Years of musicianship have resulted in the release of Semones’ latest singles, the lathery “Shinju/真珠” and the playful yet mournful “Okashi/お菓子.” The musician has released a few singles and her EP, Tsukino, to date, but her two tracks above feature a more spirited, raw sound, showing her ever-evolving artistry.
Mei Semones makes beautiful music that simply makes you feel alive. It is my hope that other people can feel the same way after listening to her masterful work.
Listen to Mei’s latest double single, Shinju.
She is currently working on her second EP set to release this spring.
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