ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Mei Semones calls her music pop. And the elements of pop - a catchy melody, a hook - they're all there in her music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN DO WHAT I WANT")
MEI SEMONES: (Singing) Couldn't care if I tried.
SCHMITZ: But they come at you in fits and starts, and they're sprinkled with short, improvised, instrumental interludes that are steeped in jazz. The end product - light-hearted songs that are hard to categorize because there aren't many artists out there making this kind of music. Example - the lyric, can't get my mind off you, might sound like a cliche love song lyric, but it's the way she delivers it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN DO WHAT I WANT")
SEMONES: (Singing) Can't get my mind off you. There's nothing I'm scared of. Why would I be?
SCHMITZ: I started my interview with Semones asking where she came up with these songs, what kind of music influenced her.
SEMONES: I think the first bands that I really got into that were, like, truly my own taste were Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GEEK U.S.A.")
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: (Singing) Lover, lover, let's pretend we're born as innocents, cast into the world with apple eyes.
SCHMITZ: And she was also into jazz.
SEMONES: My favorite of all time is John Coltrane.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN COLTRANE'S "BLUE TRAIN")
SEMONES: I would say I also really like Monk.
(SOUNDBITE OF THELONIOUS MONK'S "'ROUND MIDNIGHT")
SEMONES: The other side was learning some bossa nova tunes, like "Girl From Ipanema" and "Corcovado" and "Wave." Like, those are the first three that I think I learned.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GIRL FROM IPANEMA")
ASTRUD GILBERTO: (Singing) Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking. And when she passes...
SCHMITZ: And she just mentioned a bunch of songs there, but it was "The Girl From Ipanema" sung by Astrud Gilberto that Semones channels when she's humming over her guitar melodies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TORA MOYO")
SEMONES: (Vocalizing).
SCHMITZ: I caught up with Semones at one of her last tour dates at the Ottobar in Baltimore, a punk indie rock club. Her audience there was sort of like her music, a wide-ranging demographic. There were 20-somethings, middle-aged folks, parents with their kids, all humming along to their favorite parts of her songs.
Before the concert started, Mei was on stage, arms outstretched, performing a series of wrist exercises. Months of touring and a nightly routine of intricate guitar playing have taken their toll. She took a break to sit down with me backstage to talk about her music. I asked her to break down one of her most popular and technically difficult tracks called "I Can Do What I Want."
SEMONES: I think it did start with the chorus part, which is kind of like the more simple part of the song. It's just two songs, and then there's, like - I'm playing harmonics in between the chords and singing along with the harmonics. I think it started with the hook.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN DO WHAT I WANT")
SEMONES: (Singing) Can't get my mind off you.
With that song, I was really wanting to write something that was hard for myself to play because the few songs I had written before that, I felt like were, like, not the most challenging. And so I was like, let me go back and try to write something that's, like, actually hard. That's a lot of the reason why that song sounds the way it does. It's, like, a lot of lines and time signature changes and stuff like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN DO WHAT I WANT")
SEMONES: (Singing) I'm not scared. I don't mind. If you look at me, I am going...
SCHMITZ: So what drives the idea to try and make things more complex?
SEMONES: Yeah, I think it really comes from a place of - the most important thing to me in music, and in my music specifically, is that I enjoy playing it and that it's fun for me and that I like it and that it's challenging. And so I think that's the main thing is, like, I don't want to feel bored playing my songs. Obviously, like, the simplest song can also be the most difficult song. Like, everyone knows that. But I think for me, I really like, like, challenging myself on the guitar 'cause that's what is fun for me in music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN DO WHAT I WANT")
SEMONES: (Singing in Japanese).
SCHMITZ: When do you decide to use English versus using Japanese in these songs?
SEMONES: It's not super planned out or structured. It's kind of just whatever feels right for me in the moment and whatever pops into my head.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DUMB FEELING")
SEMONES: (Singing in Japanese).
And it has to do with also, like, what word fits best with the rhythm and melody that I have in mind 'cause normally I have the rhythm and the melody first, and then I'm fitting words to that. So sometimes, like, one word in this language will work better than that same word in the other language.
SCHMITZ: It sounds nicer.
SEMONES: So yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TORA MOYO")
SEMONES: (Singing in Japanese).
SCHMITZ: So tell me a little bit about how you grew up. It seems, especially from your latest EP, that your family is a big part of your music, right?
SEMONES: Yeah, definitely. I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and my mom is from Japan, and my dad's from Ohio. Yeah, my dad is a musician. He plays euphonium. It's kind of like the smaller version of a tuba. It's not something that he does, like, professionally, but he's been playing for his whole life.
SCHMITZ: And he was on - he's on this EP of yours, right? He's actually on a couple of the songs, right?
SEMONES: Yeah. Or it's actually just one song.
SCHMITZ: OK.
SEMONES: It's the song called "Kurage."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KURAGE")
SEMONES: (Singing in Japanese).
But yeah, that's, like, our first piece of music that we've made together.
SCHMITZ: Did you approach him, or did he ask you? Or how did this come about?
SEMONES: I asked him because basically the idea for the EP was to make three songs that were all collaborations with people that are important to me and people that I'm inspired by. And then I was thinking about who the third person should be for the collaboration, and I've never had a horn instrument in my music, and I thought it would be nice to just have it be my dad 'cause he's, like, a big inspiration in a lot of ways and is, like, a huge reason why I'm here and why I'm able to do what I'm doing. And so it just felt like the right choice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KURAGE")
SEMONES: (Singing in Japanese).
SCHMITZ: He must have been super touched by that.
SEMONES: I think he's happy about it. He was, like, a little nervous to record and everything.
SCHMITZ: Really?
SEMONES: Yeah, but I think it went well. I...
SCHMITZ: He was nervous.
SEMONES: Yeah (laughter).
SCHMITZ: Interesting. What kind of music fans, I guess, show up to your concerts?
SEMONES: It's a pretty wide range. Like, I feel like there's a lot of people, like, I think, my age who are musicians or, like, just are into music, and then a good amount of, like, kids who are younger, too. Like, I see a lot of, like, Xs on their hands. You know, like a lot of people who are under 21 - you know, like, the Xs...
SCHMITZ: Oh, the...
SEMONES: Yeah.
SCHMITZ: So they can't drink. Yeah, yeah, OK.
SEMONES: So they can't drink.
SCHMITZ: Yeah, yeah.
SEMONES: So yeah, younger people, too. And then also, like, older fans also come out to the shows. My favorite thing is when there's, like, a parent and then a kid. Like, I love that.
SCHMITZ: Oh, wow.
SEMONES: Like, sometimes...
SCHMITZ: So you see that?
SEMONES: Yeah.
SCHMITZ: That's really cool.
SEMONES: Like, pretty often, actually. It's really, really sweet. Sometimes it's, like, a young parent and, like, a really little kid or, like, someone my age and, like, their older parent...
SCHMITZ: Yeah.
SEMONES: ...Which is - yeah, that makes me really happy that, like, such a wide range of...
SCHMITZ: Cross-generational.
SEMONES: ...Ages can listen. Yeah. It's really cool.
SCHMITZ: That's musician Mei Semones, speaking to me at the Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KURAGE")
SEMONES: (Singing in Japanese). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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