Get to Know: Akai
Hiromi and Robbie Matsumoto delve into the insanely beautiful.
Whether it's music, painting, film, anything where an artist must rely solely on their imagination and their raw talent, there will always be a balance between happiness and insanity. The finished product can come quickly or slowly depending on how the artist interacts with the piece. It's not something that's all fun and games, and many times artists will find a side project to delve themselves into so not to become another Van Gogh. To the Minnesota painter Hiromi Matsumoto, music became his creative release. Matsumoto started playing electronic music by his self as a hobby away from his design and painting career. After meeting his future wife Robbie, who was in a twee band when they started dating, the two started to collaborate and meld their influences together. The final product was the band Akai, a mix of Matsumoto's electronic background and Robbie's simplistic indie rock style. Hiromi and Robbie gathered their friends from the music network Band Kids Unite to achieve the sound that they desired for Akai, going from a musical duo to a ten piece band.
The culmination of Matsumoto's side project is Pretty Songs about Ugly Things, an album almost as artsy as its creator. You can tell Hiromi and his friends had fun making this album because there is never a moment on it that seems forced by the band or the Matsumotos. Each song exudes this softness and discreetness that can only make you feel a little bit happier about your day. On the aptly named track "Beautiful", we hear Akai's members talking amongst themselves before they start playing and their enthusiasm in conversation leaks over to the beauty of the song. This album is truly a bunch of pretty songs about ugly things. Despite the soft lull of "Beautiful" the lyrics describe the between a couple, going from love to annoyance.
"Picking Flowers in the Dark" has the depth of a full orchestra but the intimacy of an acoustic ballad. Hiromi and Robbie Matsumoto's voices meld so well together with the music's small chimes and guitar embellishments that they almost become an instrument themselves. It's a delicate song but never to the point where it's fragile in its meaning. Hiromi's electronic influence appears in the ambience track that plays in the background while Robbie's cute voice sings over guitarist Josh Ewer's loop tracks. The whole band joins in by the middle of the song, for a build-up that doesn't disappoint.
Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Jul 22, 2008 @ 6:16 am
