Kishi Bashi: A Brilliant Talent
I've recently discovered Kishi Bashi, a musician with a most remarkable talent. His original works are nothing short of brilliant - but his interpretation of other songs is fascinating.
This artist is a symphony of one.
Don't let the title of this song dissuade you from listening. The message isn't what you're thinking.
Here is the original song & 2 variations.
Review: Kishi Bashi
When he first surfaced as a solo artist four or five years ago, singer and multi-instrumentalist K. Ishibashi specialized in piecing together an intricately looped sound, centered on violin samples he'd recorded live, cut to ribbons and re-purposed to head-spinning effect. Working under the name Kishi Bashi, he's about to release his third album, Sonderlust — "sonder" meaning, essentially, the awareness that everyone around you has a complex life of his or her own. Throughout the album, Ishibashi broadens his palette, rendering his sound ever more frantic, unpredictable, digital and danceable.
As with its 2014 predecessor Lighght, Sonderlust isn't content to replicate the grandiose accessibility of Kishi Bashi's 2012 single "Bright Whites," opting instead for shiny electro-pop that whizzes, squeals and often feels as if it's about to fly off the rails altogether. Ishibashi is a creatively restless soul — he fit in perfectly as a touring member of the band Of Montreal, for example — and it shows here, as the sweeping strings of his past are joined by chopped-up synths in songs that can seem to accelerate into infinity.
Here's a take on a popular U2 song. Sometimes he'll lose a vocal note, but his instrumentality more than makes up for it.