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Her Little Bit of Sunshine
By JORDAN IKEDA
RAFU STAFF WRITER
Friday, February 20, 2009
A chat with Seattle composer and musician Emi Meyer.
Emi Meyer has found a unique style in her dual cultural background.
Meyer performed at the Apple Store in Ginza, Japan on Feb. 1.
Emi Meyer is an indie music artist born in Kyoto, Japan and raised in Seattle, Wash. She’s been studying jazz and classical piano since she was six. Her innovations as a songwriter have matured over the years along with her lyrics that exude unique insight on relationships and life.
Meyer is an Issei, her mother from Japan, her father of German-Irish descent. She is currently studying ethnomusicology with an East Asian concentration at Pomona College. She will be performing at The Foundry on Melrose on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Just returned from a trio of performances at Apple stores in Ginza, Japan and then back in Los Angeles in Pasadena and Santa Monica, The Rafu had the opportunity to do a brief e-mail interview with the up-and-coming musician whose debut album, “Curious Creatures” was self-produced in 2007 and is available via CDBaby.com. That album will be released in Japan in late April, with a bonus track in Japanese.
Also this year, Meyer plans on releasing both a Japanese album and an English album. You can check her tour schedule at www.myspace.com/emimeyer.
RAFU: How would you describe your music?
EMI MEYER: My music is rooted in my jazz piano training but channels music my parents raised me on, such as the Beatles and Stevie Wonder. I admire these older styles, but they come out differently once they go through the modern filter of me.
RAFU: Musical influences?
EM: I played in a lot of jazz combos, so my harmonies and melody lines are developed from playing jazz standards and improvising. My friend’s dad, a trumpet player, always used to give me tapes of Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, and Dave Brubeck, so they became staples around high school. I also really like popular artists like John Mayer, Cold Play, and India Arie. Freshman year at college, just around when I started to write songs, my roommate introduced me to singer/songwriters such as Fiona Apple, Mirah, Damien
Rice and Regina Spektor. They introduced me to a contemporary approach to lyrics.
RAFU: What’s in your iPod?
EM: Right now, a mix of Brazilian artists that I learned about while down there last month. I got to play with a lot of different musicians, in genres from jazz, candomble, to reggae. They all introduced me to new artists. My favorite might be Tim Maia; you can’t listen to him and not feel cheered up.
RAFU: Favorite song?
EM: Too many.
RAFU: Best gig
EM: The Sundance Film Festival was an amazing change of pace. I was studying abroad in Japan at the time, and flew back just for a week. It was like a parallel universe, from immersion in my routine in Kyoto (commuting to school on bike past traditional houses, speaking Japanese) to arriving in Salt Lake City. At the airport, the diversity of travelers, the fast food stands, and even the difference in the size of muffins at Starbucks fascinated me! The artistic energy and sheer density of talent along the streets of the festival was also very inspiring.
RAFU: Best part of playing/performing?
EM: Meeting people and having a way to express yourself. Having music is a passport—no matter where you go, you can connect to people and form relationships without being able to speak the language. With it, you can both give and receive respect—and with hard work, no one else can create what you create! That is both the ultimate challenge and reward.
RAFU: The struggles or the advantages of having a dual cultural makeup.
EM: Sometimes my mannerisms seem misplaced—the way I conduct myself may seem mild in the U.S., or assertive in Japan. It’s something I recognize, and find special, about growing up bicultural. It gives you perspective to realize behavior or values we consider absolutes in one culture are, in fact, relative.
RAFU: How has this influenced your music?
EM: I am fascinated and inspired by the role of music in different cultures. I studied abroad in Japan my junior year and learned about the traditional arts and the jazz scene. I also experienced how people listened to my songs differently in each country. When the words are in a different language, listeners focus more on melody and voice—it has challenged me to think about songwriting from different angles.
RAFU: Describe your writing technique or certain tools or methods you use in writing lyrics.
EM: I often write a song when some event (often an interaction with a person) sparks a strong emotion in me. I might go to the piano and let words flow to match the feeling. When it feels like scratching an itch, I know I’m on the right track.
RAFU: Most “Japanese” thing about you. Most “American?”
EM: Changes from day to day and place to place; along with my understanding of what is “Japanese” or “American.”
RAFU: Outside of music, how do you spend your time?
EM: I think almost everything I do culminates in music—be it watching films, reading, hanging out with friends, or hiking. Right now I like going to vintage shops to find something that speaks to me from a mishmash of items.
RAFU: Musical ambition/goals.
EM: To continue growing as a songwriter and composer, never afraid to try something new. To balance open-mindedness with a strong sense of self.
RAFU: With the changing economy, people downloading albums for free, and music being broadened by the internet, what is the future of music in your opinion and how do you see yourself fitting in or helping create that future?
EM: It will be important to have a solid live performance. I think solid artistry, something irreplaceable, will become of great value. Also, the music scene will probably become more international as listeners get their hands on music from another country over the internet. Even now, the music industry and scenes between the US and Japan are very separated—very limited exchange on the independent level. That will probably change.
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