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Pop Music Review
Asian American pop band Visiting Violette sure picked a topical title for its debut album, "A Hero's Day." But the decade-old L.A.-based group focused on personal heroes, not those who do brave things for a living, during a Saturday celebration at the Japan America Theatre.
The septet's polished music fused R & B and funk, folky pop and mellow rock, variously recalling 10,000 Maniacs, Sheryl Crow and the Motels. The songs were put together well, but often so stylistically eccentric it was as if the band found all ideas equally compelling and couldn't leave anything out. Indeed, that was reflected in the 75 minute program, which also featured spoken word, a taiko drummer and dancers, as well as a stripped-down "acoustic" segment complete with guest rapper, and even a short, hero-themed video.
Crooing quirky tunes about heartbreak, life on Mars and overcoming hardship in a girlish yet substantial voice, singer Lee Takasugi was a dynamic front-oman, although her performing style was an overly theatrical blend of Natalie Merchant twirling, Gwen Stefani energy and theme-park show exaggerated emotion.
Some lyrics had threads of social and cultural conscience, commenting on such things as traditional submissive Japanese female roles, as did stories Takasugi told.
In one, she explained that the piano she played had been her mother's, kept during World War II by sympathetic white neighbors while the family was interned. It was poignant to realize how something often taken for granted--family heirlooms--could be so rare. And that, in this context, an act of decency became a heroic deed.
Natalie Nichols - LA Times
Pop Music Review
Asian American pop band Visiting Violette sure picked a topical title for its debut album, "A Hero's Day." But the decade-old L.A.-based group focused on personal heroes, not those who do brave things for a living, during a Saturday celebration at the Japan America Theatre.
The septet's polished music fused R & B and funk, folky pop and mellow rock, variously recalling 10,000 Maniacs, Sheryl Crow and the Motels. The songs were put together well, but often so stylistically eccentric it was as if the band found all ideas equally compelling and couldn't leave anything out. Indeed, that was reflected in the 75 minute program, which also featured spoken word, a taiko drummer and dancers, as well as a stripped-down "acoustic" segment complete with guest rapper, and even a short, hero-themed video.
Crooing quirky tunes about heartbreak, life on Mars and overcoming hardship in a girlish yet substantial voice, singer Lee Takasugi was a dynamic front-oman, although her performing style was an overly theatrical blend of Natalie Merchant twirling, Gwen Stefani energy and theme-park show exaggerated emotion.
Some lyrics had threads of social and cultural conscience, commenting on such things as traditional submissive Japanese female roles, as did stories Takasugi told.
In one, she explained that the piano she played had been her mother's, kept during World War II by sympathetic white neighbors while the family was interned. It was poignant to realize how something often taken for granted--family heirlooms--could be so rare. And that, in this context, an act of decency became a heroic deed.
Natalie Nichols - LA Times
Like an exceptionally fine wine or dessert, this collection of songs from Lee Takasugi is to be savored with your undivided attention, preferably through a fine sound system to capture every subtle nuance she has crafted into each piece.
The lack of reverb in almost every mix, while startling at first, provides an intimacy & presence that enhances the overall concept of the project, especially when time is taken to absorb the flavors of each song one at a time. Lee’s vocals are clear & expressive, caressing every word & syllable, & her supporting musicians also follow her vision here, keeping the arrangements clean but quirky.
Different but accessible, unique but familiar, “Navigating by Stars” is an excellent & very personal rendering from the heart & soul of the artist.
- Jimi Yamagishi, director SongNet
Like an exceptionally fine wine or dessert, this collection of songs from Lee Takasugi is to be savored with your undivided attention, preferably through a fine sound system to capture every subtle nuance she has crafted into each piece.
The lack of reverb in almost every mix, while startling at first, provides an intimacy & presence that enhances the overall concept of the project, especially when time is taken to absorb the flavors of each song one at a time. Lee’s vocals are clear & expressive, caressing every word & syllable, & her supporting musicians also follow her vision here, keeping the arrangements clean but quirky.
Different but accessible, unique but familiar, “Navigating by Stars” is an excellent & very personal rendering from the heart & soul of the artist.
- Jimi Yamagishi, director SongNet
From the opening ine of the first song, when Lee Takasugi sings "Have you ever fallen in love iwth a woman who had pink hair?" you know you're in for a very cool ride. Visiting Violette, comprised of singer Takasugi and guitarists Shin Kawasaki and Glenn Suravech play a driving and undeniable form of alternative pop.
Takasugi's voice calls to mind Gwen Stefani for its emotional dexterity and Natalie Merchant for its grace. Kawasaki and Suravech's guitars easily swing from muffled grunge to water-clear melodies and back. Songs like the title track bubble under and build until they burst in explosive choruses with melodies that shoot into the stratosphere. On the standout track "Carnival," Takasugi's vocals shimmer amid an arrangement that flutters from quiet acoustic guitar to full-band rock mayhem. - Performing Songwriter
From the opening ine of the first song, when Lee Takasugi sings "Have you ever fallen in love iwth a woman who had pink hair?" you know you're in for a very cool ride. Visiting Violette, comprised of singer Takasugi and guitarists Shin Kawasaki and Glenn Suravech play a driving and undeniable form of alternative pop.
Takasugi's voice calls to mind Gwen Stefani for its emotional dexterity and Natalie Merchant for its grace. Kawasaki and Suravech's guitars easily swing from muffled grunge to water-clear melodies and back. Songs like the title track bubble under and build until they burst in explosive choruses with melodies that shoot into the stratosphere. On the standout track "Carnival," Takasugi's vocals shimmer amid an arrangement that flutters from quiet acoustic guitar to full-band rock mayhem. - Performing Songwriter
Discography
Visiting Violette, 5 song EP self-released 1999
A hero's day Bindu Records 2002
Navigating by Stars self-released 2007
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Bio
Lee Takasugi is a singer, songwriter and piano-player born in Los Angeles, California. She has performed for the past 15 years as lead singer and songwriter of independent recording artists, "Visiting Violette." They released "a hero's day," produced by Derek Nakamoto (Keiko Matsui) on Bindu Records in April of 2002.
Lee's song have been featured on KPFK's "Global Village" 90.7 FM and in videos, "Rock, Paper, Scissors," "Ah Bing: the history of the Bing Cherry," and "The Name Game" on PBS. Takasugi's song, "On Mars" was published in the Manzanar Press and has been used in classes in the Asian American Studies Departments at Scripps College, Cal State Northridge and Azusa Pacific University as a studied example of how the Japanese-American Internment during WWII is expressed through the arts.
Lee has also collaborated with members of Hiroshima, the Taiko Project and hereandnow theater company at the Japan American Theater in downtown L.A., mixing song with different forms of dance, mime, taiko drumming and spoken-word. Along with "Visiting Violette," she was awarded the Duane Ebata Memorial Award in 2005 for her contributions to the community through music.
Since moving to New Mexico in 2006, Lee has been playing solo in various venues throughout the city. She has just completed her first album entitled, "Navigating by Stars," due out in November 2007.
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