Photos and words by Samantha Skapin

Last Saturday, Kishi Bashi took over the Beachland Ballroom and made it his personal dance party. The band Twain opened for him.

First to the stage was Twain. I hadn’t heard of them before, but knowing Kishi Bashi, I was sure it was going to be incredible. A man came out with a single guitar and mic and honestly changed the mood of the whole room. Everyone was fixated on his voice and nothing else. His vocal style almost reminds me of Angel Olsen (a personal fave of mine), and a mix between Shakey Graves and Hozier which was awesome. You could tell he was definitely singing from the heart and had so much emotion behind every song in the set. You just knew that he enjoyed playing the music he made and it was really humbling to see.

As I said, I didn’t know much about Twain before the set, so after I was of course hooked and had to find out more about them. After countless searches with just Shania Twain popping up left and right, I was able to find them. Mat Davidson was the man with the guitar at the show, and is the primary vocalist of Twain. I then, of course, had to listen to ALL of their music on Bandcamp and couldn’t stop listening for the rest of the night. Some of the songs he played live included, “Are We In Heaven?” and “Old Blue” off of their album Life Labors in the Choir.

The lyrics are so haunting and his stage presence definitely makes you feel something, so I would highly recommend checking these guys out. I know if they roll through Cleveland again, I will be 100% there. Also, be sure to check out their newest release on Bandcamp, Sir Kitchen Boy.

Next up was the man himself, Kishi Bashi. He’s had a good couple of months, with his new album, Sonderlust, releasing in September, and has been touring for the past month and a half and he looks like he couldn’t be happier. He came out onto the stage to the Stranger Things theme song with a big grin on his face, and began with a song off of the new album called “Statues in a Gallery“. The set started off with an immediate burst of energy as Mr. Ishibashi started jumping all around the stage. As expected, his vocals sounded incredible live, as well as the rest of the band with backing vocals from both Daniel Brunner and Mike Savino (who also has his own project called Tall Tall Trees).

He played a couple songs off of Sonderlust to start off the set, but then introduced his infamous violin playing with the song “Atticus, In The Desert”off of his first album ,151a. Ishibashi and banjo player Mike Savino also had an incredible improv jam session during this song, and it was awesome to watch them vibe off of each other. They played a good mix of older songs and new, including a couple of songs Ishibashi played solo with his violin which where “I Am the Antichrist to You” and “Bittersweet Genesis for Him AND Her”. Watching him perform both of these songs solo was such a treat because you can literally see how talented he is. From the violin playing, as well as layering the tracks with incredible live looping, Mr. Ishibashi is a true musician.

After his solo songs, he brought out a mascot (which was someone in a steak costume) for his hit “The Ballad of Mr. Steak” off of the album Lighght. It got the whole crowd pumped up and everyone danced the entire song with the band. Maybe it was Ishibashis’ contagious smile, but there was so much positive energy throughout this entire show which was so great to see. He ended the set with the song “It All Began With A Burst”, where he was clever enough to loop a track including the band chanting “Don’t vote for Trump” as one of the layers for the upbeat song as confetti canons went off in the crowd and on stage.

He came out for a encore with the band where they played three songs. They played a single off of his new album entitled “Honeybody“, where Ishibashi was sat at the piano and the rest of the band was gathered around a microphone harmonizing with his vocals. They ended with his hit song “Manchester” off of 151a where they all were still gathered around the microphone, including K. Ishibashi with his violin, and it was such a peaceful end to the show. It was so incredible to watch this band play this set because every single person included is so incredible and artistic that it is truly inspiring. If you ever have the chance to check out Kishi Bashi, please do because they are such a breath of fresh air to watch. Also, make sure to check out his new album, Sonderlust, because it just might be one of the best albums of 2016 (but you didn’t hear it from me).