見知らぬ人 by You Me & The People

released May 18, 2014

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written, performed & recorded by You Me & The People

mixed by Terrill Mast & Mike Walker

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Mike Walker - Melodica, piano, guitars, bass, baby sitar, lyrics & vocals

Terrill Mast - piano, drums, vocals, synths, lyrics & melodica

Fino Li - lyrics & vocals

Xareni Daniela - vocals

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mastered by Mike Walker

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Album Artwork by Terrill Mast & Nagi Nakayama

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After finishing 'Thingamajiggy' in the summer of 2013 I already knew that I wanted to do something much different for my next project. I was recording a bit of music with Terrill Mast and was listening to a lot of 70s & 80s Japanese singer songwriter music that Nagi had introduced me to. I was really into Haruomi Hosono, The Plastics & Akiko Yano at the time. I would listen to the album 風街ろまん almost every day back then. The influence of that album must have rubbed off because the music I started to make was much simpler and more oriented around acoustic instruments.

Also, during 2013 I had begun to write music with my friend Fino Li. After realizing that she had an incredible voice, was into writing music and had been in a high school rock band back in Shenzhen called "Hello Kitty & Gun Powder" I was determined to ask her if she'd like to sing and write lyrics for a song I was working on. She said yes and the first song we ever recorded together was a track Terrill and I had been working on tentatively titled 見知らぬ人. I gave the instrumental track to fino on a USB drive and after sitting with it in her apartment for a few days she later showed up at my place with a finished set of lyrics and vocal melody that matched the vibe of the track perfectly. We went into the Owlery that night and recorded her vocals and loved the end result so much that we decided to name the project after it.

The concept behind the EP was the idea of being a foreigner in a distant land. The word "見知らぬ人" means stranger and I was daydreaming a lot about taking a solo trip to Japan. Around November 2013 I finally made the decision to go to Japan and the daydream suddenly became a reality. I bought the ticket and made some loose plans to meet up with Nagi in Hiroshima. She left for Japan in mid-December and I told her I'd meet her sometime early in the new year.

And so, on January 3rd 2014 I left Chicago bound for Japan. I had been studying the language for about two years at that point and was eager to immerse myself in the culture and see how well my communication skills faired if I went alone. After arriving in Narita and taking the subway to Tokyo I ended up spending a few days traveling around Tokyo. After that I made it to Kyoto where I wandered around for two days before traveling to Hiroshima by Shinkansen on the 4th day to meet Nagi. She was born in Hiroshima and this was the first chance I had to visit her in her hometown.

She took me to stay at her parent’s house for a little over a week in a town called Hatsukaichi. There she showed me countless amazing things, took me to all kinds of beautiful places and introduced me to many wonderful people. Spending time in Hiroshima with Nagi, her friends and family was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my entire life.

Ten days after first arriving in Hiroshima I decided to continue traveling south through Japan. Nagi and her mother saw me off at Hiroshima station and after I said goodbye to them, I took the bullet train further south through Honshu and then into Kyushu until I finally reached the city of Kagoshima where I was planning on meeting another friend and spending a few more days there with them exploring the city and surrounding countryside.

Upon returning to Chicago, I recorded more songs with Terrill on and off as the months went by. Some were recorded at home in River City, others were recorded in the ballroom of the South Loop Hilton Hotel and others were done at Terrill's apartment in Pilsen. After those songs were finished in the Fall of 2014, I decided that I had amassed enough material for a nice little 5 track EP.

This EP always reminds me of the my ever first trip to Japan. Although I saw many places while visiting Japan, I have to say that Hiroshima holds a special place in my heart. 見知らぬ人 is partly my travelogue but at its core it is a simple love letter to Japan, a place where I was treated with nothing but kindness and respect.

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