Singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and Athens favorite Kishi Bashi has carved out a unique place for himself in America’s diverse sonic landscape. With a musical vocabulary drawing from indie pop, rock, beatboxing, vocal looping, and even classical violin, he defies easy categorization yet has achieved international appeal.
Following its recent premiere with the St. Louis Symphony, his new orchestral show comes to Hodgson Concert Hall on Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. for an unforgettable night of music featuring songs from his catalog and selections from “EO9066,” his powerful work about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The concert, featuring the UGA Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Mark Cedel, is a co-production of UGA Presents and the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.
Kishi Bashi is the pseudonym for violin virtuoso K Ishibashi. Having recorded, toured and collaborated with such diverse artists as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche and of Montreal, Kishi Bashi released his first full-length album “151a” via Joyful Noise in 2012, which received high praise and the title of NPR’s Best New Artist of The Year. His follow-up album “Lighght” expanded his palette to include more diverse and nuanced instrumentation, flirting with Eastern-tinged arrangements, Philip Glass-inspired improvisations and 1970s prog. With 2016’s “Sonderlust,” his work became more intensely personal and artistically adventurous with the help of producer Chris Taylor, engineer Pat Dillet and drummer Matt Chamberlain.
