2022 was a good year for the three-piece instrumental rock formation The Shamisenists, consisting of two shamisen players and one drummer. In the summer, they were in France for a couple of shows, including Motocultor Festival. In addition, the band released a new album, titled PLAY!. This album was first released digitally in November and a month later on a physical disc. The release of this album will be celebrated through a special release event at Moon Romantic on 3 February next.
However, this performance will, for now, be the very last time the three men will come together on stage as The Shamisenists, as they have decided to take a break as far as live appearances are concerned. But there is some good news: this upcoming show at Moon Romantic will be streamed live for those who cannot attend this show in Tokyo.
The stream will be via livestreaming website Zaiko. In case you cannot watch the show when it takes place, it is good to know that the distribution period runs until 10 February. For those who are in Tokyo and want to attend the live show at Moon Romantic, you can book your tickets on the website of The Shamisenists.
Besides being active as The Shamisenists, the three men, Jack, Yuji and Kyohei, also pursue solo activities. The decision to pause live performances for The Shamisenists was made so that the three musicians can concentrate on their solo careers.
PLAY! contains 13 songs and was produced by tatsu, bassist of LÄ-PPISCH, and musician, arranger, and composer Naoki Endo took the task as recording engineer. Furthermore, keyboardist SATOSHI, who has already been active as a support musician for The Shamisenists since the single SAKURA (which was released in 28 March 2022), can also be heard playing on this album. The album further features re-arranged versions of previously released songs. Speaking about this album, bandleader and Shamisenists player Jack shared, “Many of the songs were created with the energetic soundscape of the period around 1990 in mind, when rock and street culture were mixed together.”
The Shamisenists effortlessly switch from psychedelic rock, jazz, funk, fuzzy heavy metal-inspired riffs, Indian scales, and Japanese traditional songs. The Shamisenists began performing under their current moniker in 2021 after formerly going by the name THE SYAMISENIST since the start of 2012.
