Pirates Canoe

There are few things I wouldn't expect from Japan, and I think it's safe to say Americana roots falls somewhere on that very short list. Today's Kyoto based sextet master the genres involved gracefully, creating a beautiful musical long distance relationship.

One of its biggest set backs, if you can even call it that, is a predictable push. You'll know what to expect from the first song onward, but it still makes room for your curiosity. The good news is there's never a notable dip in quality, so everything will be just as good from start to finish.

A slight jazz touch swings this track favorably, leaving a very positive lasting impression and a fair idea of their comfort zone. They're willing to twang in a bluer direction, but it won't be long until you start hearing well played banjos and country-paired compositions.

The beauty of their work is there's little bias with the definition of roots. This is their interpretation and all they really want out of it is a graceful sound for a summery mood. To appreciate it, you need to accept it as its own defining factor.

While the ear might acclimatize to the general sound, the brain will enjoy well prepared composition and gift wrapped ideas. There's even a pretty decent cover of Love Shack with a new-school Americana swing that I had to fall in love with.

Considering their blend of musical backgrounds is far from what I'm usually comfortable with, I'd say these guys have done an excellent job. If you see their music sticking with you after the stream, you should show some support. Find them on Facebook and Twitter for love, or go to their website to stalk what they've done. - D4am

Tokyo’s Benten record label will bring its annual post-SXSW “Japan Nite” tour to The Independent in San Francisco on March 24. The night will feature five very different bands that all bridge the gap between East and West in their own unique way.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing acts is Pirates Canoe, a Japanese three to six piece folk group who could give Appalachia’s finest a run for their money with their ability to play bluegrass. They’ll be appearing in their trimmed down trio format for the purposes of this tour.

Similarly, Chihiro Yamazaki and her Route 14 Band are also virtuosos of a very American art form. Fronted by vocalist and trumpet player Chihiro Yamazaki (aka Anna of Tokyo Brass Style), the outfit combines Seventies funk with jazz and delivers a very pleasing, groovy retro sound.

Also on the bill is power pop/rock trio Jake Stone Garage and all-girl punk/pop quartet JOSY. The evening’s entertainment is rounded out by Four Minutes Til Midnight, who are perhaps the most well known of the five bands here in the United States.

The rootsy hybrid rock outfit, which is comprised of American singer Eli Taylor and Japanese members Kenta Hayashi (guitar) and Yusuke Ikegaya (bass), was actually formed in Hollywood, where the members met while studying at the Musician's Institute. Their self-produced albums Oak Tree (2006) and Find My Way (2009) both sold in excess of 20,000 units in the U.S., and in 2012 they were signed to a major label, Universal, in Japan. These achievements are indicative of precisely what this showcase tour ultimately hopes to promote. - NBC Bay Area

Name: Pirates Canoe

Where they’re from: Kyoto, Japan

When They Started: 2009

Genre: Bluegrass, Americana

Most Similar: Oh Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack

Sounds Like: America’s backwoods, land of cricks

Some of the most heartrending, beautiful bluegrass isn’t coming from a smoky tavern in Appalachia. Pirates Canoe — sometimes a trio, sometimes a sextet — actually hail from Kyoto, Japan. Yet, from the crude fiddling to the banjo to the melting harmonies all the way down to their accents, you’d think they were the hottest new thing out of the Bible Belt.

Through a couple of EPs, a full-length, and a monthly cafe event in Japan, Pirates Canoe has been lulling the masses with classy Americana a la Alison Krauss, the kind that gives you a pit in your stomach because it’s like the heavens opened and bestoweth divine, majestic song.

Here’s the new video of “Guitar Blue” from their self-titled full-length, and get hypnotized. - MTV Iggy

Feeding on Roots Music, Yet Growing Strong and Free––I Take My Hat off to Pirates Canoe’s Buoyant Sense

When did I first start to hear about Pirates Canoe? If my memory serves right, it was towards the end of 2010 when a couple of the band’s members attended the monthly Bluegrass Night held at Osaka’s “Another Dream” venue. I heard from someone that they had put on a good performance. And that someone was a bluegrass veteran with 30 years under his belt. Needless to say, I was surprised. Yet I still had a suspicion that he may have a soft spot for this band in a sort of fatherly way, since the members were young women. However, the rumors kept coming from different places; I even heard a rock bar owner, who has a very discerning ear, praising their music. When I went out with friends and acquaintances in the music industry, the band’s name would occasionally, regularly, come up.

At the time they hadn’t put out their first album yet, and were slowly but steadily growing a fan base through live performances in their local scene in Kyoto. Curiosity finally got me, and I watched a video of a live performance that was available on the Internet. I immediately had to withdraw that suspicion of anyone “having a soft spot in a fatherly way.” I can’t remember the title of the song, but it was not bluegrass, not country, not anything that I could put a label on. Yet it had a very roots-based sound, and it was stylish.

Showing Their Presence, Opening for David Bromberg’s Japan Tour

I must admit that although their name was in my mind, I didn’t have a chance to see them live for a while. This spring David Bromberg toured Japan for the first time in 34 years (sponsored by Toms Cabin), and Pirates Canoe opened for his Osaka gig. When I found out, I was of course excited to be able to see David Bromberg, but also to see the band that I had heard so much about. On this day, the three women of Pirates Canoe performed: main vocalist and guitarist Reika Hunt, Sara Kohno on mandolin, and Kanako Keyaki on fiddle. Three more men—Kazuhiko Iwaki on dobro guitar, Jun Taniguchi on bass, and Yoshioka Takashi on drums—complete the full band. This band flexibly adopts different lineups according to the circumstances or member availability.

Pirates Canoe’s trio performance, which I watched from a front row seat, was impressive. They must have felt the presence of the night’s main act (in fact, David Bromberg was watching from the side of the stage) and pressure from the audience full of older, possibly picky music lovers. But they came on stage, made everyone laugh with their talk, and gave us four or five songs without seeming to be nervous at all. They came back for the encore to play two songs together with David Bromberg’s band, nailing their solos. What a show! When my friends and I followed the concert with a few drinks at the local bar, we ended up talking more about Pirates Canoe than the main act.

PIRATES CANOE, and PIRATES CANOE, TOO—Two Albums that Get Better at Each Listen

Pirates Canoe formed in the summer of 2009 as a duo: Reika Hunt and Sara Kohno. The band later welcomed members with various backgrounds including Irish, jam, soul, rock, etc. Touring across the country, the band’s minimum lineup is a duo, max lineup a 6-piece. In 2011 they released their first album, “Pirates Canoe” (5 tracks). Almost exactly one year later in June 2012 came their second album, “Pirates Canoe, Too” (5 tracks).

I’m listening to their second album as I write, and I want to warn first-time listeners not to expect a young bluegrass band. If you do, you will be pleasantly surprised. All songs are original compositions, of high quality, well arranged, and excellently performed. I am astonished at the ideas and good taste in the details. I don’t know a lot about each member’s history, but I hear that the three front women have bluegrass, singer-song writer and classical backgrounds. They use their strengths well, and extremely efficiently. And what artists/music is their sound based on? I have no idea. To give an example, there is an interestingly-titled song on their first album, “En Ulas Ta.” It is over ten minutes, has a complex structure, is very experimental, and is utterly beautiful. Their second album “Pirates Canoe, Too” seems to push this experimenting spirit further. It is an ambitious and highly original album. I don’t think you could find anything like in the world, let alone in Japan. It’s just Pirates Canoe’s music.

They now have a monthly show at Kyoto’s old live house “Jittoku,” a gig they call “Hyokkori Party.” Since 2012 they have performed about 50 shows a year, and even tour in other cities such as Nagoya and Tokyo. They just finished a performance at “New Folks: Women Artists” in Yokohama, produced by Hiroshi Asada. They will be featured on Gontiti’s radio show on NKK FM, “Lovely Music of the World.” Their act keeps growing.

Here is some information on the mandolin player, Sara Kohno. “She was th - B.O.M. Services

If you pursue music, especially the roots of Western music, you will reach country music, bluegrass, and eventually Celtic music. I think these are genres that have a hard time surviving in Japan, but Kyoto is a place full of people who love, and even play, this type of music. Pirates Canoe, a band full of just such people, creates a good old-timey sound with a foundation on Celtic music. Their subtle, hovering ambiance and pop sensibilities are fantastic. Their album is taken in one-take recordings, so you know that their live performances are good, too. I recommend getting this album at one of their shows.

––Sep 2011, Akihiro Goto
(originally in Japanese, translated by Reika Hunt) - Leaf Publications (Leaf Magazine)

If you pursue music, especially the roots of Western music, you will reach country music, bluegrass, and eventually Celtic music. I think these are genres that have a hard time surviving in Japan, but Kyoto is a place full of people who love, and even play, this type of music. Pirates Canoe, a band full of just such people, creates a good old-timey sound with a foundation on Celtic music. Their subtle, hovering ambiance and pop sensibilities are fantastic. Their album is taken in one-take recordings, so you know that their live performances are good, too. I recommend getting this album at one of their shows.

––Sep 2011, Akihiro Goto
(originally in Japanese, translated by Reika Hunt) - Leaf Publications (Leaf Magazine)

"Even the hippest of SXSW hipsters probably haven't heard of Pirates Canoe, but with a sound that's Alison Krauss-meets-Ry Cooder-meets Alan Toussaint, they're the skinny jeans from Japan that are destined to be fashionable stateside soon. The sometimes trio, other times sextet, mixes a dollop of Irish folk with a helping of fiddle, mandolin, guitar and percussion that beautifully complement — but never overwhelm — the singers' ethereal harmonies. Though based in Japan, the members met in a very Americana way; the story of Pirates Canoe's inception involves a bar, a violin case and a few adult beverages. That's not to say that the band has completely shucked its Asian roots for Nashville though. Consider "Gull Flying North," an uptempo mandolin romp that has just enough delicate tones to bring the Far East to mind."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/sxsw-2015-21-country-music-artists-you-need-to-see-20150312/pirates-canoe-20150312#ixzz3pd2PeSeV
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"Because who knew that an Americana act from Kyoto, Japan, looks significantly odder on paper than it sounds in practice? Half a song in and it's not the novelty, but the songcraft and playing that grabs and holds your attention. If only half of what East Nashville is churning out right now seemed this authentically heartfelt." - Esquire