Cello and violin aren’t exactly the lead instruments one would expect to drop stunning indie-rock compositions. Yet Takénobu brings an explosive mix of art-rock and all-encompassing new-wave that sounds as if Arcade Fire unplugged and holed up in a coffee bar.
Takénobu is the middle name and band and artist name for Nick Takenobu Ogawa. It is a combination of the Japanese Kanji characters in his father and grandfather’s names, and loosely translated means “Iron Will”. He is joined in live performance and on the new album Always Leave a Note by talented wife Kathryn Koch.
Glide is premiering “Peachy Keen,” which takes simple pop new-wave pleasures and mingles those hooks with an artistic flair reserved for jazz and symphonic works. Call it neo-classical-wave, yet we’re digging on this enrapturing effort due off Takénobu’s upcoming LP Always Leave a Note.