The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows defines “sonder” as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” This concept is the root of Kishi Bashi’s Sonderlust, which explores the existential spectrum from alienation to connection through a soundscape both poignant and radiant.
On Sunday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg, the band translated these sprawling emotions and experiences into an energetic set. I went expecting to be delighted by the playful sonic textures. I did not expect also to be so moved by the softer acoustic numbers with soaring violin and searching vocals. The evening was a reminder of the wondrously transportive power of live music, particularly in troubled times.
Kaoru Ishibashi is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter, though that description hardly does justice to his body of work. Through his varied projects — with Athens-based of Montreal, as a founding member of the electronic rock outfit Jupiter One, and as a solo artist – K. Ishibashi has carved out a particular territory, building from Suzuki and jazz violin training and finding a crossroads of 70s soft rock, electronic, chamber pop, and — judging by the jubilantly dancing crowd in Brooklyn — a splash of disco vibes.
Kishi Bashi
Tall Tall Trees opened the evening by taking the crowd to psychedelic folk Tomorrowland via the Banjotron 5000. Mike Savino played the light-up banjo both traditionally and completely not – strumming, drumming, bowed, amplified by a mini-megaphone, and layered with space effects from a toy ray gun. Micah Thomas provided the rhythmic backbone to a set that showcased songs from Savino’s latest EP, Freedays. Though Savino and Thomas both live in Asheville now, the former once called NYC home. He asked the audience if everyone was following their dreams and quipped that “if you’re going to deal with the way this city smells, you better at least be chasing your dreams.” Later, he remarked that living in New York is akin to having donuts on a baseball bat, suggesting that the added weight of this crazy place, once removed, enables us to swing at life more powerfully.
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees
Savino returned to the stage with Kishi Bashi, whose set started with harmonious magic around a condenser mic as the band revisited songs from earlier albums 151a and Lighght. K. played violin, Savino the double bass (on which he perched his hat), and Daniel Brunner, guitar.
Kishi Bashi
KB
KB
KB
Seth Hendershot worked his magic behind the kit all night while the other three musicians rotated between a menagerie of instruments, including keyboard, banjo, flute, and melodica. Juxtaposed against lush, complex arrangements, the stripped-down portions of the show, including the first measures of “Can’t Let Go, Juno,” added a beautiful sort of melancholy to a song about the lengths to which we go in feeding the relationships that undo us.
KB
KB
KB
Kishi Bashi
The night had both somber and lighthearted moments. K. paused early on in the set to share a forthcoming project relating to the history of Japanese-American internment during World War II, drawing parallels to the current anti-immigrant political climate. But then the disco ball threw fractured light all over the crowd while Mr. Steak danced (yes, that’s the stalwart merch person in a smiley-face T-bone costume), the audience offered up some meaty puns, and confetti was thrown into the crowd.
KB
KB
KB
KB
The band took to the floor for the encore, the crowd singing along and exchanging high-fives with the musicians they adore. It was a perfect encapsulation of the labyrinthine pathways that bring us together in shared moments, unexpected and ephemeral.
KB
Kishi Bashi
Kishi Bashi Setlist
Kishi Bashi and Tall Tall Trees have a few more shows together before the former heads to Europe. Dates here, and pick up their albums here (KB) and here (TTT).
Article: Vivian Wang
