We named Mei Semones an Artist To Watch last year on the strength of her debut album Animaru, an idiosyncratic yet seamlessly polished amalgamation of jazzy guitar, bossa nova rhythms, chamber-pop arrangements, and indie rock heft. She announced its follow-up Howl, her first for Verve/Interscope, and shared its lovely title track last month. And today she's back with a second single.
"2 Hands" is another gorgeous offering, incorporating South Asian tabla into Semones' hybridized genre stew as she professes her devotion to music itself. "I'll give you my two hands/ I'll give you my whole heart / Offer my life and it's still not enough/ This path that continues forever/ As long as I live know what I need to do," she sings in both Japanese and English. The song features a music video featuring Semones playing alongside her longtime bandmates Ransom McCafferty, Noah Leong, Claudius Agrippa, and Noam Tanzer.
"Everyone in my band is such an incredible musician and I feel so lucky and grateful to play with them, and that's what this song is about!" she says. "So for this video I wanted to capture what it's like to play music with them, and highlight how amazing and talented each of them are. Thank you to the director Jacob Rodier & the rest of the team for making us look cool." Watch and listen below.
Howl is out 1/15 on Verve/Interscope.
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