mei ehara and Dining Dead at Barboza

Last Saturday I found myself at Barboza, the sister venue of Neumos, to watch mei ehara on her headlining tour, Domino! Before she took the stage, I was introduced to the openers, Dining Dead. This was my first experience with the local Seattle band, and it won’t be the last.

Dining Dead is an ethereal indie rock group originally formed by childhood friends Sammy Skidmore (lead vocals/guitar) and Emma Belmont (lead guitar). The band has the familiar, nostalgic sound of a woman-led band from the ’90s while producing something new and different at the same time. The perfect example of their versatility is their song “Reservoir,” with its dreamy guitar chords and Kennedy Webb’s dynamic violin playing taking the lead in parts of the song. The band’s sound is very distinctive and could easily be picked out from any other Seattle band because of the inclusion of violin and synth in their performances.

I always walk away feeling pleased when a band or artist decides to lead with the music and not any unnecessary frills or theatrics. It means the band is confident in the music they are playing and creating, which is exactly what you can expect when you go to one of Dining Dead’s shows. Their stage presence gave me a very cozy feeling because they look right at home on the Barboza stage.

Have you ever gone to a concert, watched the opener perform, left after the concert was over, and then started listening to their music as a newly awakened fan? That’s exactly what I experienced when I saw Dining Dead open for mei ehara. I’m looking forward to seeing where the band goes and how their music grows from here. You will definitely catch me at a show they are headlining, right in the front of the crowd, swaying back and forth with a smile on my face.

After a short break it was time for the main act. mei ehara is a Tokyo-based Japanese singer-songwriter with an indie pop/folk style. She has gained attention from a Western audience by collaborating with and opening on tour for the popular folk/indie artist Faye Webster. Afterward, she set off on her first-ever headlining tour in the States. Thankfully, almost a year ago to this day, I had the opportunity to watch her perform on that tour in San Francisco, and I walked away quite impressed. Now, a year later, on her second tour in the States, I can happily say that nothing has changed.

mei ehara has a quiet, low-energy presence onstage, but that doesn’t mean her performance was not compelling. Her music is very guitar-forward, with the guitar always taking the lead in her songs. Though we have all heard the guitar before and are quite familiar with how it sounds, she manages to use vibrato to make it sound ethereal. The atmosphere in the room was very hushed and reverent while she was performing. You couldn’t hear anything but her band playing, and that is powerful.

All of her songs are completely in Japanese, but that shouldn’t stop you from going out and listening to her music just because you can’t speak Japanese. Based on the instruments alone, the show is worth the price of admission, and then some. If you attended her previous tour last year and were expecting something different, well, don’t get your hopes up. She has not released any new music between the two tours, but don’t let that deter you because I would happily attend another one of her shows in a heartbeat. Another thing worth mentioning is that if you are a fan of Faye Webster and expect her to perform her collaboration with Faye, titled “Overslept,” then you will be slightly disappointed. She relies completely on her solo work in this performance, but she stands tall and proud in her own art.

mei ehara is a woman of few words other than the ones she sings, probably because English is not her native language, but that didn’t stop her from showing her appreciation for headlining a show in Seattle for the first time. You can tell that she and her bandmates are pretty close from the way she lets one of them have a whole segment to talk about how he now owns a house and make the audience guess how much it costs. If I recall correctly, last year she let him do yo-yo tricks onstage as the opening act. Of course, they are close, since this is the very same band she played with last year, which definitely plays a part in their synergetic performance.

Even though this was my second time seeing mei ehara perform, it was an unforgettable performance that left me wanting more. That is why, when I heard that she had announced another US tour and added a Seattle stop this time, I had no choice but to go, and I am glad that I did. Now that it is over, I can only hope that her first time headlining a show in Seattle won’t also be her last.