Tasmanian artist エミエミ Emi Emi, aka Emi Doi, has become known for her unique musical style, intertwining Japanese and English on top of an upbeat, electronic track.
Her musical journey began with a stint singing for Tokyo Punk, a dinner band which played at Mona.
“When that finished up I was feeling really sad about not singing in Japanese anymore. It was the first time I’d ever done it, and it was really fun,” she said.
“It was such a great way to learn more Japanese vocabulary and get better as a performer.”
With the help of collaborators Charlie Pyecroft and Jack McClean, she now writes and performs her own music, and recently released her EP.
But writing songs has become deeply personal for the 28-year-old: it’s become a way to connect with her heritage.
“My Japanese isn’t that great. I have a Japanese parent, but I was a bit of a brat when I was a kid and didn’t super love having to speak in Japanese,” she said.
“When I got a bit older, I felt a lot of shame about it. All my Japanese family, none of them really speak English, so I was going to Japan and trying to make conversation but not being able to have that language connection. That’s a really sad thing.
“I feel like music has been super good for that because it’s a nice way to learn conversational language in a way that’s fun.
“The lyricism is extremely simple, it’s often quite silly. If you were someone who could speak Japanese listening to these songs, you’d think this is super childish or silly or probably suitable for a Play School audience.”
In terms of genre, Emi said the music has elements of J-pop and indie.
“That’s what I was listening to so much of, contemporary J-pop, it’s usually really really bubbly, has tonnes of interesting instrumentation, lots of key changes, lots of complex piano parts.
“It’s very loud, in your face, you hear it in chemists in Japan.
“Certainly where the music has landed, it doesn’t neatly fit into that genre (J-pop).”
Emi said there can be challenges releasing music in Tasmania.
“The Aussie music scene is very well concentrated in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. All of that industry expertise, there’s not that much of it situated in Tasmania,” she said.
“By equal measure, there’s something really special about the Tasmanian music community. We are all aware we are missing that kind of industry presence and scale.
“Everyone really helps each other. It’s challenging but also really lovely.”
