My interview with Mei Semones. Mei released her latest EP ‘Kabutomushi’ in April via Bayonet Records.

Diya: Good afternoon Mei, it’s lovely to see you. How are you doing on this fine September afternoon?

Mei: I’m good. I’m–yeah, I’m good. I really like this time of year in New York, so…Been having a nice week.

Diya: Yeah, that’s awesome, let’s start from the beginning. I did some digging and learned that your artistic origin story stems from playing piano and electric guitar as a child, and later moving on towards jazz guitar–and eventually studying guitar at Berklee College of Music with a jazz focus. Can you tell me a little bit more about how your musical background informs your artistic philosophy to this point?

Mei: Yeah, I think studying jazz definitely has had a big influence on my songwriting. I think it’s the music that I listen to the most. So it kind of just comes out inherently in what I write. And growing up, I was really into, like–when I was playing more rock stuff, I got really into Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. And so I think that also has had some influence recently on my music. And aside from that…Yeah, I don’t know. I think just, like, going to school for music, I learned a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t have otherwise, just studying with different professors and stuff. So I think that has had a big influence on the voicings that I choose and the guitar licks that I play. And all of that comes from studying other people’s music and…Transcribing other people’s solos and stuff like that.

Diya: Yeah, a lot of Kabutomushi features jazz sensibilities interlaced with math rock riffs and charming strings. I like how you incorporated bilingual lyrics, dynamic melodies, and so much brightness into this release. Can you tell me a bit more about your creative process on this EP, along with its sonic and emotional landscapes, and how they show up through some of your songwriting, vocal and instrumental choices?

Mei: Yeah, so this EP…The process for making the EP was–I mean, this is how most of it, most of the songs that I have go–but like first I write the song by myself, like just the guitar part, the chords and the lyrics and melody that I sing. So that comes first. And once I feel like that is in a really good place, I’ll bring it to my band. And from there, we work out the parts together, like they do most of the actual writing and stuff. And I’m kind of just there to, like, provide a little bit of direction maybe, sometimes. But yeah, so we do the rhythm section, drums and bass figure out their parts, and we do the string arrangements. And that’s like a whole thing that takes hours and hours, but it’s really good. And I think it shows in the results, like, how much time you put into it, you know? (Diya: Absolutely.) And once that’s in a good place, we go into the studio and, like, for Kabutomushi, we kind of recorded in bits and pieces because we were living–some of my band was living–in Boston. So we did drums and bass together, and I did my vocals and guitar, and then strings in New York–we did at my friend’s apartment. So that was kind of the process for that in terms of the emotional landscape. I mean, what the EP represents for me is like…I wrote all the songs kind of during a transition period of my life when I was graduating Berklee and moving to New York and going through some different things that were happening in my life. And basically, I feel like those songs kind of just represent that time period and represent  me starting to maybe explore a little bit more musically and getting more comfortable with my songwriting and more comfortable with myself and what I want my music to sound like.

Diya: Yeah, since you sing bilingually, I’m interested in how you choose what lyrics are in English and what lyrics are in Japanese. Is it an artistic decision based on what you’d like to emphasize more, or is it another type of process?

Mei: I think it’s mostly just whatever feels natural, like whatever comes to mind first. If I’m working on a song and the first thing that comes to mind is English lyrics, I’ll go with that, or Japanese lyrics, I’ll go with that. Sometimes I plan it a little bit, like, “oh, I know that I want this part to be in Japanese and this part to be in English”, but it’s never a hard rule. Like if I try and it doesn’t work, then I can just switch around. So that’s kind of nice. It helps with like–if I get stuck with something, a lot of the time switching to a different language will help get past that. Yeah.

Diya: Since you started playing instruments at a pretty young age, and you have a background in studying at a music school, and have created and released other music in the past, how would you say the music on Kabutomushi is influenced by your past work and music education?

Mei: I feel like my first EP, Tsukino, was a lot of bossa-influenced music. I mean, it’s all bossa-influenced and jazz-influenced and stuff. But I think Kabutomushi had that, still…The music education part of it, I guess…Yeah, a lot of the songs that are on Kabutomushi, like, I can kind of pick out from each song something that I learned in school or something that I learned from…Listen to something and then like, yeah, it’s all like inspired by the things that I’ve tried to practice on my guitar.

Diya: Between shades of pink, lyrics reflecting longing, and vibrant instrumental arrangements, I’d like to know what were some of the main inspirations for this project. And this could be other music, media, literature, film, spiritual occurrences, epiphanies, religion, whatnot.

Mei: Yeah, I mean, I think the main thing that inspired me to make the EP is that I like writing songs and that’s really it. There’s not, like, some inspiration where I’m like, “oh, I really want to do this” or a moment of realization or anything like that. It’s more just, like, this is what I like doing and so I’m going to do it and then I’m going to put it out and that’s it. It’s pretty simple, I guess, in terms of inspiration. I’m inspired by a lot of jazz musicians, I guess. And the music doesn’t sound like that necessarily, but it’s influenced by that. And what I’m going for is, like, the music that I love gives me a certain feeling. And I want my music to give other people that feeling, like a special feeling of like…The music that I love makes me feel less alone or gives me something to relate to. Basically. It’s like what I’m looking for, I think. And I want my music to do that for other people because I think that’s what makes music special. Yeah.

Diya: Yeah! I’m interested in your EP’s artwork…I noticed that most of your music’s artwork shares a similar color palette and is illustrated. I’m curious about the cover art’s direction and the story behind the illustration.

Mei: Yeah, so the illustration, my mom did for all of the singles and for the EP cover. Now, it’s basically just, like, I would look at the song and look at the song lyrics. I’m like, what could the illustration be that’s relating to the song? And I just pick out something. I mean, a lot of it is pretty straightforward. Like “Tegami” means letter in Japanese, like, a written letter, and so on. The single cover for “Tegami”–there’s like a letter and there’s a fan because one of the lyrics in the song is “You’re my biggest fan.” So it’s a fan and letter. The same with “Inaka”–like, a drawing of a barn and a truck or something. And that means countryside. So yeah, that all is pretty straightforward. It’s just taking something from the song. And then I asked my mom to draw it and she did. Yeah..

Diya: That’s really awesome. Yeah. I’m also interested in the music videos on this album. They’re gorgeously shot. I also adore your bunny hat. The video for the title track, “Kabutomushi”, features a lot of solitude and low lighting. The big city romance of “Inaka”’s video is lovely to follow along with, and the video for “Wakare No Kotoba” features you packing up and exploring on your own. Something that stands out to me thematically across the videos is the sense of poetic remoteness, even with motifs like public transport or the big city. Can you tell me a little bit more about the choices to include all these motifs and your music videos and how they function in tandem with the album’s themes?

Mei: Yeah, I think the music videos…They’re really just trying to think of how to represent the song visually, you know? So for “Wakare No Kotoba”, that song is about kind of saying goodbye and moving on, among other things. But that’s, like, some of the themes that are in the song. And so I was like, for the music video, what if it’s, like, me moving away? Because that’s what I say in the song. So that’s pretty straightforward. And then “Inaka”, same thing. Like the song is kind of about longing to move to the countryside or be somewhere else other than the city, which is not how I feel now. But like when I first moved here, I was really stressed because I was working a full time job and just having a hard time balancing that with doing music and stuff. And so that music video is very much, like, showing me in the city, me at my friend’s farm in Connecticut…I feel like the music videos for this EP are really straightforward. “Kabutomushi”, same thing like that. That song is about when I would go to visit Japan when I was little, and I happened to be going to Japan this past January. So I was like, “oh, I should shoot a music video while I’m there”, ’cause then it’ll be, like, actually what I’m talking about in the song. And we found a huge Kabutomushi statue that shows up in the end of the video that was, like, at a park. It was like a slide that was shaped like a Kabutomushi. So that was perfect for that too. But yeah, it’s kind of it.

Diya: Let’s talk about gear. What would you say was the most essential piece of gear to the particular sound of Kabutomushi?

Mei: I think my guitar probably. That’s the biggest–for me, that’s the most important part of the music because that’s where it all starts..The guitar. Like, I write the chords first. Even the melody sometimes is on the guitar first. And so, yeah, I think that’s the most important part.

Diya: Yeah. Lastly, if you were stranded on a desert island and could only take three pieces of gear with you, what would they be and why?

Mei: Wow, yeah…Three pieces of gear I would bring…I think if I was on an island, I would bring my acoustic guitar because I don’t know if I’d want to lug around an amp on the island. So an acoustic guitar, a tuner because I don’t have perfect pitch and cannot tune without one, and…I don’t know, I guess I would need, like, an extra pack of strings in case string breaks. So yeah, those three things, probably.

Diya: Do you have a string type of choice or a string set brand?

Mei: Not really. I feel like I should at this point, but I just have never gotten that into, like, gear in general, honestly. I’ll play whatever as long as it’s not too heavy and it’s comfortable.

Diya: I know some people are really picky about what kinds of strings [they use], or have a favorite. I know Dirt Buyer–also from Bayonet–has the pack that they like a lot, but yeah.

Mei: Yeah, I feel like if I didn’t like it, I would know. But like, otherwise, as long as it’s nothing crazy, I’m like, sure, this is fine, yeah.

Diya: Thanks so much for chatting with me, Mei. It’s been lovely to learn about your process and how your EP came to be.

Mei: Thank you so much.