Hailing from Nagoya, Ett is the acoustic duo of Kei (guitar) and Sayuri Nishimoto (voice) playing what some may call “contemporary haiku-pop.†Ett’s music is like the best kind of children’s books; packed with not only childlike innocence but also profundity, edginess, and maturity that only come with life experiences. Full of lyricism, ett’ s songs are at once playful and somber, always embracing a precarious balance of simplicity and audacity.
Ett was formed in Nagoya in 2002, when Sayuri met the guitarist Kei, who had just relocated from Osaka. (During his Osaka days, Kei was a key member of Hanadensha, the legendary psychedelic rock band. Kei is also known for his extensive collaborative projects with various local experimental musicians, including members of Boredoms. )
Sayuri brings bright, charming and greatly intuitive sensitivity to the duo. On the contrary, Kei is reticent, deeply immersed in the Eastern philosophies, and has a near-obsessive and esoteric attitude towards music. What brings them together in the creative processes is their emphasis on the poetic resonance unique to the Japanese language, an effort ironically only rarely found in the Japanese popular music scene today.
Ett has released three albums, all on the coup label from Nagoya.
ETT (ccd-005)
TENKARA (ccd-008)
MUCHA NOCHA [tea/no tea] (ccd-015)
On his coup label, Kei has produced a series of compilation albums called Nagoya Rock , which presents a wide array of works by the best (and the wackiest) of Nagoya’s underground music scenes. Kei has also produced three albums of his own solo works. The third one, Lost People, Lost Music (ccd-007), is allegedly a compilation of music of an imagined ethnic group, accompanied by a deceptively scientific and yet completely fabricated liner notes on the imaginary people written in Japanese, English, and French.