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Jonah Yano performs a Take Away Show for Blogoteque with 'song about the family house' from his latest album portrait of a dog.
The wooden stairs of a house, a friendly dog and an intimate song. Canadian artist Jonah Yano - famous for his jazz-inflected soul-pop - delivers a sweet rendition of 'song about the family house'. This track is a tribute to a place which he holds close to his heart. A house everyone in his immediate family has lived in at one point or another that's about to get torn down. "And how do I keep / The living room intact / Exactly as it was / If I have to commit it and rebuild it in my memory." Lonesome guitar lines and weary vocal melodies sublimate this affecting song we captured just for you.
In anticipation of his sophomore album out later this month, Jonah Yano shares his new single for "song about the family house." The album, Portrait of a Dog, is entirely co-produced with BADBADNOTGOOD and is out January 27th. The song sparks a fuse of familial memories, in a celebratory ode to his grandparents and the memories shared at their home in Vancouver. The themes of family and memory are central to Jonah's work, which he recently detailed in his cover story for RANGE's Winter 22/23 print issue.
'Song about the family house' is an amulet of the things we archive amongst ourselves as a family, the stories we tell at dinner, the knots of trauma passed down to untie, the details of family life that could only ever be understood by us, not because they are complicated to understand, but because they would never matter to anyone else, and in that public irrelevance, we privately celebrate each other."
Jonah's new offering arrives on the heels of his RANGE's winter print cover story and stint supporting Clairo for the last leg of her North American and the entirety of her European tour dates, which wrapped up last November. He also closed the live run with a headline show of his own at Servant Jazz Quarters in London.
Portrait of a Dog includes the previously-released singles "Leslianne," "always," "the speed of sound!," and "portrait of a dog," which is at the confluence of his love of folk and jazz music. It’s a focused departure from Yano’s previous recordings – establishing a clear sonic identity throughout the album’s 12 songs to weave together two complementary narrative threads of a family archive and exploration of the family dynamics in the Japanese-Canadian household he grew up in, and a deeply personal recollection of a fading relationship. Beyond the co-production of BADBADNOTGOOD, Portrait of a Dog features additional guest work from Slauson Malone, Sea Oleena, with string arrangements by Eliza Niemi, Leland Whitty, and Yano himself. Yano's forthcoming second album follows his stint supporting Clairo for the last leg of her North American tour and the entirety of her European tour dates, which wrapped up last November. He also closed the live run with a headline show of his own at Servant Jazz Quarters in London.