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"warm, wistful, and quaint all at once" - HYPEBEAST
"softly lit tones with a jazz influence, his fuzzy, lo-fi sense of soul touches upon the intimate at every turn" - CLASH
“dreamy soul-tinged adult alternative songs" - ALLMUSIC
On the heels of an album with BADBADNOTGOOD and working with the likes of Clairo & Mustafa, Jonah Yano returns with another collaboration. This time with fellow Canadian and next door neighbor Le Ren. "Lauren and I met in summer of 2021 when I was first living in montreal. We were introduced over text by a mutual friend of ours. A few weeks after we first met we decided to get together and try working on music together - I had just finished recording Portrait of a Dog. The first day we wrote together it went so well that we got together again the next day, and the next, and the next. I think over 2 weeks we must've spent at least 10 days writing songs together and recording onto my 4 track and computer. We've been friends ever since and are now next door neighbours. We live in Little Italy (hence the EP name) and our apartments share the same wall. The 3 demos on this are definitely the best summary of what we wrote together. And actually even though we live so close to each other, we haven't really gotten back together to write much since. I think these demos are a window into the short and special moment when we were on exactly the same page and wanted to make the same thing."
Check out the 3 song EP titled the little italy demos at this link.
"an architect of recollection" - Exclaim!
"warm, wistful, and quaint all at once" - HYPEBEAST
"'60s soulful voice that has hints of Smokey Robinson" - NPR
"His voice lilts with every syllable, making the imagery feel crushing and poignant" - Pitchfork
Montreal’s Jonah Yano shares a new single today titled “concentrate." The new song bookends a year that he kicked off with the release of his critically-acclaimed sophomore album portrait of a dog, which was co-produced alongside frequent collaborators BADBADNOTGOOD.
Jonah recorded “concentrate” with his live band (Christopher Edmondson, Benjamin Maclean, Leighton Harrell, Felix Fox-Pappas, and Raiden Louie), the first time they have all recorded a song together in-studio after first coming together to support Clairo on tour in the UK in 2022. The song also includes guest contributions from Clairo herself on clarinet and backup vocals. Fittingly placed to cap off the year, “concentrate” is a song about beginnings, and it also marks the beginning of a confident step into a new musical direction for Jonah Yano, having worked alongside the likes of Mustafa and BADBADNOTGOOD.
In addition to the single, Jonah will embark on his European tour dates later this week. The tour includes a stop at the Pitchfork Music Festival Paris, where Jonah will share the stage with acts like Youth Lagoon, Weyes Blood, Crumb, and more. Tickets can be found here.
This is Jonah’s first solo release since his sophomore album portrait of a dog, which was released earlier this year and received critical acclaim from outlets like RANGE, Pitchfork, and Exclaim!. Jonah also performed several of the album’s standout songs live for CBC’s The Intro in April.
Read more about the release on Sterogum.
See his upcoming European live dates below and stay tuned for more from Jonah Yano in 2024.
Tour Dates
11/9 - Bruges, Belgium @ Cactus Club
11/10 - Paris, France @ Pitchfork Festival Paris
11/12 - London, England @ Jazz Cafe
11/15 - Istanbul, Turkey @ Zorlu PSM
The ever so talented Yu Su gives Jonah Yano's "the speed of sound!" the remix treatment.
"the speed of sound!" (Yu Su’s Off Speed Remix) is out now on all platforms. Yu Su turns it into an atmospheric spaced out ambient dub beauty.
Jonah Yano performs a Take Away Show for Blogoteque with 'song about the family house' from his latest album portrait of a dog.
The wooden stairs of a house, a friendly dog and an intimate song. Canadian artist Jonah Yano - famous for his jazz-inflected soul-pop - delivers a sweet rendition of 'song about the family house'. This track is a tribute to a place which he holds close to his heart. A house everyone in his immediate family has lived in at one point or another that's about to get torn down. "And how do I keep / The living room intact / Exactly as it was / If I have to commit it and rebuild it in my memory." Lonesome guitar lines and weary vocal melodies sublimate this affecting song we captured just for you.
On his sophomore album, Jonah Yano shares the single co-produced by BADBADNOTGOOD. The track, "the ordinary is ordinary because it ordinarily repeats" opens with fleet-footed base notes into a cresendo of jazz prowess from Jonah and the BADBADNOTGOOD crew, with space for each instrument to shine.
Portrait of a Dog includes the previously-released singles "song about the family house," "Leslianne," "always," "the speed of sound!," and "portrait of a dog," which is at the confluence of his love of folk and jazz music. The album is a family affair in every sense, meticulously pieced together by Jonah and frequent collaborators BADBADNOTGOOD, while also deeply rooted and written from Jonah's personal experiences as he rediscovers his Japanese heritage and the importance of archiving family memories.
Beyond the co-production of BADBADNOTGOOD, Portrait of a Dog features additional guest work from Slauson Malone, Sea Oleena, with string arrangements by Eliza Niemi, Leland Whitty, and Yano himself. Yano's forthcoming second album follows his stint supporting Clairo for the last leg of her North American tour and the entirety of her European tour dates, which wrapped up last November. He also closed the live run with a headline show of his own at Servant Jazz Quarters in London.
See Stereogum for more about it.
And NPR's New Music Friday for a featured album piece.