Lamp | Artist

Lamp is a Japanese indie band formed 2000 in Tokyo by Taiyo Someya (guitar), Kaori Sakakibara (vocals, flute, accordion) and Yusuke Nagai (vocals, bass, guitar, piano, keyboards). Someya started playing guitar in middle school. In the folk club during high school, he became friends with Nagai through their common love of 60’s music. During college, when a friend introduced Sakakibara to Someya, he decided to start Lamp. The band's sound seamlessly blends Indie pop with cool jazz and bossa-nova time signatures, producing a dreamy easy-listening palette with great harmonic depth. The band themselves have cited Brazillian music, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Simon and Garfunkel as influences. To-date they have released nine studio albums. Standouts include Koibito e (2004), Komorebi Doori Nite (2005), Lamp Gensō (2008), Tokyo Utopia Tsushin (2011), Yume (2014) and Dusk to Dawn (2023). Their second album, 2004's Koibito e (which translates to "For Lovers") has earned high critical acclaim, with one enthusiastic reviewer writing: "The combination of male and female vocals throughout the album is beautifully melodic and bittersweet.. you feel a wide variety of emotions ranging from being sad and heartbroken to happy and joyful. Setting the outstanding soft vocals aside, the instrumentals on this album are beyond gorgeous. They are what truly convey the emotion all throughout. From the soft strums of the guitar to the upbeat piano and drums, Lamp is not afraid of pouring their emotions into these songs." Vocalist Kaori Sakakibara is also in the duo named Minuano, alongside Takero Ogata, and that band has released three excellent albums of Shibuya-kei styled jazz-pop. As well as having a strong following in their native Japan, the band has also toured throughout China, as well as Korea, Hong Kong and Teipei.

Artist Website: wikipedia/Lamp

Featured Albums: Lamp

Related Artists: Minuano

Video Clips: Artbox, Unknown Song, Live at Baekam