Trio performance will show influences of his times with Jupiter One, Of Montreal and Regina Spektor

By Charlie Bergeron

Kaoru Ishibashi, known musically as Kishi Bashi, is “On tour forever.”

Just kidding, but that is what it says in his Spotify bio. Currently though Bashi is, in fact, on a retrospective solo tour. This tour is a look into his incredibly diverse discography. And, great news, he is en route to Buffalo’s Asbury Hall (341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo), where he’ll be playing Monday (May 12) at 8 p.m.

Bashi got his start in music at a young age. During our interview this past Tuesday he looked back on his early days, saying “You know, I started with classical violin when I was a little kid, and then I kind of kept it pretty serious through high school.

“But then, you know, I went to college for, ultimately, jazz violin, improvisation on violin, and then I graduated with a degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music.”

Soon after graduating from Berklee, Bashi moved to New York and became a founding member of NYC based indie band, Jupiter One. Around that same time, he also became a member of indie pop band Of Montreal, touring with them and working closely on some recordings as well. Later, he also played alongside Regina Spektor. 

When reflecting on these two different tour experience, Bashi said; “I did learn when I was in Regina Spektor’s band … they’re both humbling in that I got to see how they could either throw a party or really have an intimate experience with the audience. Regina Spektor is the latter, you know, where she can really command the room. And I really saw that, and I kind of have worked to try and emulate that for myself.” 

In terms of Of Montreal, Bashi says, “And then with Of Montreal, it’s super party band, so yeah, kind of shocking people, being provocative and surprising people with this and that. I think that’s something I learned that has a lot of value on stage.” 

Audiences for Bashi’s current solo tour can expect not only intimate crowd interaction influenced by Spektor, but also some of the party elements he learned while on tour with Of Montreal. 

With all this in mind, Bashi has not abandoned his classic roots, often playing alongside symphony orchestras when an opportunity arises. When asked to compare his performances with symphony orchestras vs. these other tour experiences, he said, “Well, I treat them as different things, like I kind of like to reinvent each tour.

“I like the fact that it’s different from my other shows.”

In terms of how his orchestral history has influenced his musical style, Bashi said, “It’s definitely an approach I take in songwriting, because I know in the beginning to stick out because it’s unique, because it’s really hard to make orchestral pop music. So I think I try and do my best effort to write songs with the violin.” 

But that isn’t always the vibe. He said, “Yyou know, obviously I’m not always inspired by that, so I do other stuff. But yeah, it definitely influences my songwriting and the production style.” 

Bashi’s solo work is an amalgamation of music informed by all of this and much more. Many of his albums are influenced by varying historical events, with one of his albums, “Omoiyari,” being a reflection on the treatment of Japanese Americans during Word War II and his own cultural identity within America. This particular LP acts as the score for a feature length documentary on the subject. 

RELATED MEDIA: A video from Kishi Bashi’s most recent album, ‘Kantos.’

Considering all of these differing influences and experiences, a retrospective tour is a big undertaking. However, equipped with one of Bashi’s best friends, Mike Savino of Tall Tall Trees, as well as cellist Emily Hope Price, they make it happen.

“I take the approach of I like to lean on the talents of my musicians and so we’re kind of trying to figure out how we could represent a dance track with just the three of us. How do we basically we strip it down if it needs to be,” Bashi said, “Or we have to rearrange the arrangements we have for this tour. And so it’s just a new approach. Sometimes we’ll never be able to hit that 100% party energy. But we can. We can definitely hit a lot of beautiful sounds, and three-part harmonies totally cater it to the ensemble.”

You can experience this look into Bashi’s eclectic and wonderful body of work on Monday at Buffalo’s Asbury Hall. During this show, you can expect to hear the hits and have an intimate experience with lots of crowd interaction. 

The Oshima Brothers, a Japanese-Italian alt-pop sibling duo from the coast of Maine, will open the show.

Charlie Bergeron is an arts writer and radio producer working out of Fredonia, N.Y. You can check out their work at https://charliesweb.fredoniastories.com.