Mei Semones – Animaru
Artist : Mei Semones
Album : Animaru
Label : Bayonet Records
Link : https://www.meisemones.com/
Style : Pop, Folk , Contemporary Jazz
From Brooklyn, Mei Semones delivers a true testament to her love of music, flouting styles by blending Jazz, Pop, Folk, Rock and Brazilian music on her highly personal album Animaru.
It didn’t take more than two EPs for Mei Semones to arouse the curiosity of the music world, an interest fully justified when we listen to her debut album, Animaru. A Japanese-born artist, she now resides in New York and has spent the last two years performing numerous concerts (notably in the U.S.) to promote her music, with the result that she has perfected her technique and gained greater complicity with her band. Following the release of an EP in 2024, the NME named her one of the artists of the year to watch, a status brilliantly confirmed by the album released this year.
What Animaru seems to be proposing is to ask why to settle for one style when the horizon is so vast, and when pleasure can be found everywhere. With voice and guitar at their core, Mei Semones’ compositions leave plenty of room for jazz, studied by the now 24-year-old, who also bears witness to her love of Brazilian music. Only her rock inspiration is more discreet, giving way to a cerebral pop-folk. The tour de force of this music, however, is to appear truly personal, while remaining natural and accessible; with alternating English and Japanese, the vocals reinforce this feeling.
In contrast to the instrumental density and research of the compositions, which can sometimes emphasize the virtuosity of the musicians, the recording maintains a precision and clarity that enhances the melodic and rhythmic lines without any effort of concentration or intellectualization. The tonal balance of the record is developed mainly towards the upper midrange and treble by the artist’s voice and guitar, to which are added the strings of the violin. The soundstage may at times seem cramped in relation to the number of instruments, but it is just as capable of occupying the space of the listening room in the most open tracks. In our opinion, Anima is a great achievement.