BSOP Featured Artist: Kishi Bashi

Kish Bashi’s Stunning Artistry Takes Center Stage at Bozeman Symphony Presents Series

Internationally celebrated singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Kishi Bashi returns to Bozeman for a two-week residency as the Bozeman Symphony’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence. The virtuoso violinist and artist-activist is also set to captivate Bozeman audiences with another stellar performance at a Bozeman Symphony Presents Series concert.

His highly anticipated performance will showcase Kishi Bashi’s exceptional talents as a violinist, composer, and vocalist, accompanied by the orchestra in a harmonious fusion of Japanese and U.S.-American influences. Known for his innovative approach to music, Kishi Bashi expertly weaves together a tapestry of sounds using not just the violin but also instruments like guitar and keyboard, along with vocal looping technology and even beatboxing.

Born Kaoru Ishibashi in Seattle and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, to parents who were professors at Old Dominion University, Kishi Bashi’s musical journey began at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he honed his skills in film scoring and violin. Since then, he has risen to prominence in the music scene, collaborating with diverse artists such as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and the indie rock band of Montreal.

Based in Athens, Georgia, Kishi Bashi was also the singer and a founding member of the electronic rock group Jupiter One. His music has been featured in various commercial campaigns, including Microsoft, Smart cars, and a Sony tablet, further solidifying his impact on the contemporary musical landscape.

Revered by audiences and critics alike, Kishi Bashi’s work has earned him accolades such as NPR’s “Best New Artist of the Year” in 2012 for his debut album, 151A. Subsequent releases like Lighght and Sonderlust have showcased his growth as an artist, delving into more personal and experimental territories with each album.

After Sonderlust, Kishi Bashi traveled frequently to Montana and Wyoming to work on a song film about Japanese internment during WWII. His fourth album, Omoiyari, is a studio album written during those six years of travel, research, and filming for the movie Omoiyari: A Song Film. The film was screened in Bozeman and at several film festivals in the fall of 2023, and is now available to stream on Paramount Plus.

The latest full-length from Kishi Bashi, Kantos is a work of exquisite duality: a party album about the possible end of humanity as we know it, at turns deeply unsettling and sublimely joyful. In a sonic departure from the symphonic folk of his critically lauded 2019 LP Omoiyari, his fifth studio album encompasses everything from Brazilian jazz and ’70s funk to orchestral rock and city pop (a Japanese genre that peaked in the mid-’80s). Informed by an equally kaleidoscopic mix of inspirations—the cult-classic sci-fi novel series Hyperion Cantos, the writings of 18th-century enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, a revelatory trip to ancient ruins on the island of Crete—Kantos ultimately serves as an unbridled exaltation of the human spirit and all its wild complexities.

Like the words that inspire him, ichi-go ichi-e - each moment is unique—Kishi Bashi’s multilayered violin-techno-pop music is truly one of a kind.