Mei Semones breaks away with Animaru, a dynamic new album from an artist who’s instinctual, intimate, and in control, like a musical dare delivered with a smile and wink.
A big step forward from her much talked-about Kabutomushi EP, Mei Semones’ Animaru is a celebration of musical freedom, emotional clarity, and the quiet power of following one’s instincts. It's Semones fully stepping into the world, unafraid of being emotionally unguarded, musically fearless, and technically brilliant all at the same time. Drawing from a range of influences including indie rock, bossa nova, jazz, and chamber pop, Animaru is all of them and something completely different all at once. But for Semones, it’s less about musical experimentation than it is about self-realization. “The way I want to live my life is by doing the things that are important to me,” she says. And Animaru sounds like one of those important things.
Written during a transformative year of full-time touring and creative growth, the album overflows with confidence. Recorded in the summer of 2024 at Ashlawn Recording Company, a rustic Connecticut studio tucked away on a farm, the record is the sign of an artist both in complete control and wildly free. Throughout the songs, Semones explores non-romantic love with grace and complexity - the love of life on “Dumb Feeling,” love of family on “Zarigani,” and the love of what she does on “Tora Moyo.” Her guitar playing – at times fluid, always intricate, and often dazzling - forms the spine of Animaru. But it’s her voice, breathy and precise, that holds it all together.
Album opener “Dumb Feeling” sets the tone, folding breezy samba grooves into Semones’ lush pop sensibilities as she reflects on her New York life with easy joy. On “I Can Do What I Want,” she makes polyrhythmic acrobatics and cascading harmonics sound effortless. Even the quieter moments hit hard. “Donguri,” a delicate jazz duo with upright bass, is the most stripped-down song Semones has ever written. Sung mostly in Japanese, it imagines life through the eyes of a simple and curious woodland creature. And then there’s “Zarigani,” a bright, sentimental tribute to her twin sister, where Semones croons, “I love you like my guitar / I love you like no other.”
Animaru - named after the Japanese pronunciation of “animal” - is Mei Semones in motion and on the hunt for music that’s elusive and different. She may be singing about the wild things in life, but this is the sound of someone who knows exactly what she’s looking for. “No second-guessing, no overthinking.” That’s the Mei Semones mantra driving Animaru.