Album artwork for Emigrant EP by Kishi Bashi

First new music since 2019’s Omoiyari. It features covers of Regina Spektor and Dolly Parton.

Over the last several years, the critically acclaimed composer and adventurous multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi has travelled frequently to Montana and Wyoming to work on Omoiyari, a “song film” about Japanese internment during WWII. The experience was potent for Kishi Bashi, who conducted research for the film (and 2019 album of the same name) by speaking to internment camp incarcerees and descendents. These conversations led to him reflecting on his own identity as a Japanese-American while laying the foundation of his Emigrant EP.

Along with the brutal history and harsh climate of the American West, Kishi Bashi also sensed a hope and potential, compassion, and resilience. In Emigrant EP, he celebrates these qualities. Arranged and recorded over the last year, the six tracks serve as a time capsule of the 2020 condition and a continuation of the concepts explored in Omoiyari. What’s more, they find Kishi Bashi rewriting musical tradition in the image of his own experience, further embracing his love for roots music and violin fiddling.

Kishi Bashi

Emigrant EP

Joyful Noise Recordings
Album artwork for Emigrant EP by Kishi Bashi
12"

£17.99

Mountain Spring Clear

Includes download code
Released 21/05/2021Catalogue Number

JNR365LPC1

Learn more
Kishi Bashi

Emigrant EP

Joyful Noise Recordings
Album artwork for Emigrant EP by Kishi Bashi
12"

£17.99

Mountain Spring Clear

Includes download code
Released 21/05/2021Catalogue Number

JNR365LPC1

Learn more

First new music since 2019’s Omoiyari. It features covers of Regina Spektor and Dolly Parton.

Over the last several years, the critically acclaimed composer and adventurous multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi has travelled frequently to Montana and Wyoming to work on Omoiyari, a “song film” about Japanese internment during WWII. The experience was potent for Kishi Bashi, who conducted research for the film (and 2019 album of the same name) by speaking to internment camp incarcerees and descendents. These conversations led to him reflecting on his own identity as a Japanese-American while laying the foundation of his Emigrant EP.

Along with the brutal history and harsh climate of the American West, Kishi Bashi also sensed a hope and potential, compassion, and resilience. In Emigrant EP, he celebrates these qualities. Arranged and recorded over the last year, the six tracks serve as a time capsule of the 2020 condition and a continuation of the concepts explored in Omoiyari. What’s more, they find Kishi Bashi rewriting musical tradition in the image of his own experience, further embracing his love for roots music and violin fiddling.