Kishi Bashi is the moniker of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Ishibashi. A virtuoso violinist and Berklee College of Music alumnus, he has toured with renowned artists such as Regina Spektor and of Montreal before embarking on a critically acclaimed solo career. His 2012 debut album, 151a, earned NPR’s Bob Boilen’s praise as “a radiant, uplifting soundscape” and launched him onto major festival stages, including SXSW and Austin City Limits.

In addition to creating cinematic, genre-blending music that spans orchestral rock, city pop, and Brazilian jazz, Kishi Bashi is a storyteller at heart. His 2019 album and documentary, Omoiyari, explored themes of compassion and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, earning global recognition. He has also scored the Apple TV+ series Stillwater and released the companion album Emigrant EP.

In 2024, Kishi Bashi released his fifth studio album, Kantos (August 23), a kaleidoscopic journey inspired by sci-fi, philosophy, and ancient ruins. A boundary-pushing artist, Kishi Bashi continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his vibrant, thought-provoking artistry.

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ELIZABETH AND THE CATAPULT

Elizabeth Ziman, who performs as Elizabeth and the Catapult, is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn. She’s collaborated with Esperanza Spalding, Gillian Welch, Blake Mills and Ben Folds; scored, with Paul Brill, a variety of international award-winning documentaries including Trapped, a Peabody winner; and won an Independent Music Award for Songwriting. Her songs have been featured in national television campaigns for Google and Amazon. She composed music for Sara Bareilles’ Apple TV show, Little Voice. Always writing, Elizabeth narrowed her vast collection of previously unrecorded material down to her fifth full-length studio album “Sincerely, e”, which she self-produced at home and released on Compass Records in March 2021. One of the singles off that album, “Together Alone”, made it onto NPR’s All Songs Considered 10 best songs of 2021 list.