The pop testament according to Tomemitsu

Those that have been following the Los Angeles circuits for the past decade are familiar with the works of Tomemitsu. From countless collaborations, appearances, contributions and singles of solo work throughout the decade — today the artist releases his long anticipated EP I’ll Be Alright. Created by the artist via his home digs dubbed the Laveta Loca Studios; Tomemitsu shows the world how to condense an album's sized expansive work into the neat and clean confines of an EP. I'll Be Alright utilizes every nanosecond and every item of time and space to create an experiential adventure of care and curiosity.

I'll Be Alright is pure modern day therapy. The title track itself is the slice of perpetual sunlight on the anxiety-laden mind that you never knew you needed. Ambient bookends "Up, Up, Up" and "Boa Noite" (economic mind expanding collaborations between Tomemitsu and Sonoda) lend the effect of making the extended player feel large in scope of space and magnitude. All featured 5 tracks are purposely tailored and positioned to work within a pristine high pop art aesthetic where lion-hearted bedroom pop becomes witnessed as an art work that traverses the constructs of time and dimension. Arguably the I'll Be Alright EP should be part of the official announcement of summer 2020 — a sound of beauty, balance, higher states of consciousness/being, cycles of sunny days and gorgeous nights as we collectively turn to face the strange of what our new world has become.

Consider the surreal nature of "Strange Vibes"; a thoughtful ballad about the negotiation of feelings and trust that sounds like the coolest sentimental single played after midnight on a college or scrappy pirate radio station. The vibe gets even more bewildering and entrancing on "Secrets" that lights the mind like a new romantic mystery unfolding in poly-chromatic VHS visions (complete with CRT scan lines and snowy static filters). In full, I'll Be Alright is presented as sun beam-beacon of California pop that mixes the weird of our worlds with the wonderful. Repeated listens like the first leave the listener smiling with a reassurance that maybe we will be alright together as a unified universe after all. Just maybe...

Amid exchanges of emails and cables — Tomemitsu shared some exclusive shine on the inspirations, sentiments and perspectives that informed I’ll Be Alright:

The I'll Be Alright EP is a collection of three bedroom pop tracks book-ended by two ambient instrumental pieces. These tracks were written and recorded over the course of the past few years and hopefully you can hear how much I've learned about recording and how much I've upgraded my small bedroom studio.  

I'll Be Alright came from a place of loss and reassurance. After a tough breakup I had been inspired to write my way out of sadness. This was one of those really simple songs that I could express my love, while also moving past that relationship. In pre-Covid days the live band had turned the old demo version into a two part slow burn into banger and this is that version. Peeps would have a lot of fun dancing once the second half hit.

“Strange Vibes” was originally written for the Had A Dream EP from 2017. I wasn't completely happy with the recording at the time so it got left off. My live band ended up tracking the rhythm section during a recording session we won through Converse Rubber Tracks, and then I finally finished it last year after recovering the failed hard drive. This one is about meeting new people and finding your way in a new city. I was just thinking a lot about how it can be tough to know which relationships are worth pursuing and which aren't worth the time. I would ask myself, well, do you want it? The production on this one just speaks to my love for alternative rock of the 90s/00s through a dream pop lens.

I was listening to a lot of Flock of Seagulls when I reimagined “Secrets”. You can hear the shoegazey fuzzed out guitar influences. That track “Space Age Love Song” is sooooo good, and I love the melted artwork. Lotsa dream pop is heavily 80s influenced and I wanted to embrace that with the gated drum samples from my Casio and the twinkly synths too. This one is about acknowledging your dark side and was the first part of a triptych of songs I wrote about getting through a bout of sadness. The first step is coming to grips with yourself.

“Up, Up, Up” and “Boa Noite” are actually edited snippets of an hour long drone session with Lisa from Los Angeles’ Sonoda. I had prepared a chord progression and we journeyed around that progression after eating some home baked ciabatta she brought and meditating to the vibrations of her Tibetan singing bowls. I've been listening to a lot of ambient music and vaporwave the last couple years and these are inspired by that, and probably a little bit by that Plantasia album that was recently reissued.

I’ll Be Alright is available on Bandcamp and everywhere.