In my mind Andrew Bird, Owen Pallet, and Kishi Bashi are linked. They all have different strengths and techniques, but they are all play the violin and sing lead vocals for material they write. Of the three of them Kishi Bashi is probably the farthest away from the what people think of when they think of a violin vocalist. While Owen Pallet tends toward the orchestral and Andrew Bird tends toward chamber coffee house pop; Kishi Bashi comes in as a unique combination of pop, rock, progressive, and hip hop. When listing to him live you hear the music he has been influenced from and it is everything from Yes to Kid and Play. His band is tight and Tall Tall Trees who is a member of Kishi Bashi had an excellent opening set of folk punk banjo loop music with his custom made ‘banjotron’. As a live performer Kishi Bashi has obvious strengths like being as seasoned violinist and capable vocalist, but the best thing about his live performances is their sincerity. He sells the joy and sorrow of his songs and I believe it is because of a passion for his material. It was a good sign that even thought his concert ran about an hour and a half not counting the opening act people still seemed to want more when it ended. He is going to have a new album released in May and it sounds like it maybe have a pop hit or two to rival the excellent single Bright Whites for a few years ago. I look forward the new album and seeing him again on his next tour.
