Mei Semones dazzles Brooklyn with Alternative J-Indie Pop

by Sravya Balasa | photographed on Feb 24, 2023 at The Sultan Room

On a February night in Brooklyn, New York City residents were welcomed by sounds of instruments like the viola to the drums accompanied by a sweet voice singing indie pop with a fusion of English and Japanese. Rice & Spice was able to chat with the person behind it all, Mei Semones, on her jazz-filled musical influences and her new upcoming projects.

What were you most looking forward to for tonight’s show?

I was just really excited to be with my band, because we haven't done a full band show for a couple months. Because my drummer and bassist live in Boston, they choose which shows to do with the whole band.

How did you form this group of people for your band?

We met at Berklee College of Music in Boston. I met the violist freshman year while I had been playing with other bands. He worked on my first song that I put out. Then. senior year is when I actually formed the band. We all started playing together and then I met the violist. Also, the bassist I've known for a while.

What was it like going to school for music? How did it shape your work?

I had a really good time. I feel like a lot of people have different opinions on music school, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I enjoyed the classes that made me practice me writing music in a different way than I had before in regards to harmonies and thinking of more possibilities. I took a lot from what I learned at school into my own songwriting, for example, my guitar professors showing me cool arpeggios. Learning that technique was inspiring for my songwriting too.

What was the song you were most excited to perform tonight?

I think the two new ones that I played! I was excited because that was the first time playing them with the full band and it went pretty well.

So your bio says that your genre is jazz influenced by indie pop. What drew you to jazz? What are your biggest jazz influences?

I started playing jazz because the school that I went to had a jazz program, and I started playing jazz guitar. Before that, I'd been playing rock guitar. Then, I was in a jazz band and that's when I started to play that type of music and ended up really enjoying it. Then I continued studying jazz in college.

I love John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell. I think the harmony that they use is really beautiful. I try to incorporate that into my music, but in kind of a more pop context.

How did you start bridging pop and jazz together?

The first song I put out “Hfoas”, which is the last song I played in the set, was the first song that I wrote that I felt like really drew those two things together. I feel like it happened kind of naturally, just because it's what I was playing all the time for school. When I first started writing the song, I actually was not planning on it being a vocal thing. I was like, “I'm gonna write a modern jazz standard or something". Then I thought, "I'm actually gonna sing on this note and maybe it’s going be a pop tune at the end".

Do you plan on experimenting and infusing more genres in the future?

Yeah, I would say so. I mean, the two new songs I played, already have some rock elements and a lot more odd meters and time changes than my previous songs. That’s a cool thing that I've started doing. I definitely want to just keep taking different influences and keep trying new things.

You write songs in both Japanese and English. Have you always written bilingual songs? Was it a natural choice or a conscious decision you made?

I haven't always done that, the first song that I wrote that had Japanese was Hfoas and before that I've just been writing in English. It was a turning point for me, because that was the first time I wrote a song that I felt genuinely proud of, and felt like it actually represented my voice as a person as a musician and artist. For me writing in Japanese wasn’t a conscious decision. I guess I thought, “I'm just gonna try this because I've never done it before”. I realized that it really brought my songwriting to a new level and it felt more authentic to me as a person.

You studied at Berklee in Boston, and you went to high school in Michigan, which had a strong jazz program. I know you're in New York now, so how has being in all these different places influenced your music?

Being from Ann Arbor, Michigan was mostly just the high school. I think just being introduced to jazz and playing jazz at a younger age. A lot of high schoolers just had to take a band program so that was helpful for finding my own voice because it was more soloing as opposed to just playing chords.

Boston formed me because I was going to school and studying music all the time and practicing. I also got all the people that I play with now; I think that's a big part of it. I don't think my music would sound how it sounds if I wasn't playing with these musicians and players.

I think being in New York makes you maybe not work harder, but there's just so much going on around you. You think, “I have to do this!” It just makes you feel like you always have to be doing some thing. One of the songs that I sang was kind of about a couple months ago where I was feeling not great about being here in the city. I feel way better about it now but at the time, I was like, I want to move to the countryside and never do anything again.

You've toured with the Brazen Youth multiple times. Are you planning to potentially do a solo tour in the future?

I would love to tour with my own band and my own music whenever the opportunity arises. It's moreso whenever it's financially feasible to move around and pay for travel and lodging.

Is there anyone you'd want to open for in the future?

Ichiko Aoba is the kind of artist that I feel as though I can fit well with together. There's also a lot of people that I want to open for even if we don't have similar music at all.

You have a very distinct aesthetic and your Instagram's a very cute pink color palette. How did you come up with this look and have you made creative choices that have led to this point?

In regards to aesthetic, I don't know if I've thought about it that hard. I think it's more just what I like, for example my favorite color is pink. I’m kind of inspired by Tokyo and Harajuku fashion. Whenever I go there I buy stuff, it's so sick.

So you've released two EPs and a couple of music videos. Is there anything that you're working on right now that we can get the scoop on?

Yeah, so the two new songs I played tonight are going to be part of my next project, which will be another EP; I think I'm planning on doing five songs. Hopefully it'll be done by May, that’s my goal. We'll see just because it takes a while to make a song and get everybody to record on it cause coordinating schedules is tough.