Saturday, July 17th, Mei Semones mesmerized Parish with the soft strength of her new album Animaru.
Mei Semones is embarking on her first headlining tour for her 2025 album Animaru. She is halfway through the US portion and stopped in Austin, July 17th to play at Parish. Her jazz style is very technical, blending bossa nova, bebop and blues with indie pop and a bit of prog. Mei Semones has the impressive talent of making something so difficult seem easy. It was impossible not to be astounded.
I interviewed a pair of friends, Madeline and Mika, before the show and Madeline was proud to say this was her first concert ever! Meanwhile, Mika sighed, remembering “walking around campus during my first semester of college and the scenery was just perfect while I was listening to Inaka”. Jazz has a way of making hard times softer. Fan from the crowd, Alex Van, agreed saying “jazz can be like a river, your mind kinda flows in whatever direction the music takes you and you don’t really have to worry about steering the ship”.
Keyboardist Lionmilk began the night. He was interactive with the crowd, making jokes and comments. It was akin to sitting on your friend’s couch as they casually drew a masterpiece; equal parts welcoming and impressive. He seemed so collected and comfortable on stage, but when asked later in the night he chuckled and admitted, “No, I’ve even been so nervous before that I just have to like stop and start again while on stage”. I think the whole crowd would agree that his vulnerability added to the experience.
Next, headliner Mei Semones and her band slowly set up the stage to knock it all down. Drummer Ransom McCafferty and bassist Noam Tanzer maintained a controlled but flexible groove while strings, Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, bantered back and forth like siblings, while still catering to Mei’s lead. She guides with controlled chaos, like lifting heavy weights slowly, it looks easy until you notice how much she’s carrying.
Violinist Claudius Agrippa insists it’s essential to be observant. “A lot of the time I’m really focused on what Mei is doing, trying to interact with her vocals and other melodies. Everyone is pretty ears up, listening hard. We also listen to our performances and talk about it after”. The whole band is dedicated to excellence while growing individually and collectively.
The album serves as a love letter to the balance of independence and interconnection when it comes to friendship and family. Mei says she is close to her family. Her mother, Seiko Semones, creates all the cover art for Mei’s projects. Togetherness is at the heart of her drive. Her music is made from, with and for love. She is determined to connect and says, “I stay in touch with my fam mostly through facetime and then see my parents in person several times a year!”. She also noted that she gets extra time with her sister since they live together in Brooklyn.
“Zarigani” is dedicated to her sister and hearing it live made it too easy to cry as she sang, “count on you to love me, we’ll always have each other”. The intrepid pacing makes you feel as if you, yourself are part of the adventures she recounts in the song. Mei is so talented at translating her feelings into physical music, it’s like magic. “Dangomushi” is another favorite, it sounds the way coming home from elementary school feels, the consistency is so comforting.
Her album shows such emotional and musical maturity. When asked about her relationship to rhythm, Mei responded “I think it’s something intuitive, but I also think it has developed over time”. Animaru embodies success in boldly and deeply trusting your instincts.
Mei Semones is about to finish the second half of her US tour and will go on to travel across Asia and Europe until the end of September. She’s also scheduled to join Men I Trust next January for their Japan tour.
I am a student at Texas State studying Digital Media and Psychology. I am always carrying my camera with me, it feels like my true voice. Some of my favorite artists are Courtney Barnett, Tainy, Frank Ocean, Art Lown, Fleshwater, Turnover, SZA and Wynton Kelly. Central Texas always has talented people passing through and I try to catch as many shows I can. I really love fashion, part of the fun of going to a concert is seeing what the artists wear on stage and everyone's outfits in the crowd. I tend to use musical elements in my fashion photography, the two are so intertwined to me. I also love to read and run, but not always at the same time.
