Mei Semones

About

Those arrangements — recorded at Power Station, the historic Manhattan studio that hosted landmark sessions for artists from Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie to Tony Bennett — come alive through the dynamic chemistry of Semones’ full ensemble. Her voice and guitar remain at the center, but viola player Noah Leong, violinist Claudius Agrippa, bassist Noam Tanzer and McCafferty create a wider musical landscape around them. On “Towards Manhattan,” a love song inspired by waving goodbye to a friend at the Marcy Avenue subway platform, the arrangement is stripped down to guitar, vocals, violin and viola. That understated intimacy reflects her broader approach across the record. For Semones, music does not need a dramatic breaking point to matter. Like the dogs whose howls inspired the album’s title, she simply answers the world in the language that comes to her most naturally.