Get your head into the clouds

Sometimes a solo musician’s artistic evolution can progress in surprising ways. Tanizawa Tomofumi debuted as a pop singer-songwriter with good, quirky production and unique songwriting. After making a splash and a paycheck off of penning the opening theme for popular anime Kimi Ni Todoke, he spent a year traveling the world. The whole world. All the way to Antarctica and back. He returned significantly more psychedelically cosmic and with a lot of new world-music influences to add into what was already a super-strong pop sensibility. The result is some of the most sonically and artistically unique music to come out of any ‘singer-songwriter’ you could hope to find.

The lanky Tanizawa with his electric guitar and veritable raft of effects pedals gives you a sense of the music to come. It is rooted in fantastic song-craft, elevated by Tanizawa’s crisp, clear voice then smoked up and sent to space by the effects and the noise. Harder than hippy, tighter than simply psychedelic, and way spacier than your average singer songwriter. Did I mention that he recently left the city lights of Tokyo to be a full-time farmer? Yeah, that kind of vibe.

Recently he took some time out of his busy farming and gigging schedule to speak to us about his upcoming Fuji Rock appearance.

Who are you and what do you do?

I am a…

Singer-songwriter.

Musician.

Farmer.

What kind of music do you play?

I guess I’d call it a mix of ambient, core, psychedelic and a channeling of the cosmic vibes of the universe.

What inspires you?

Five years ago, when I traveled all over the world, I met a lot of inspiring people and listened to a lot of amazing music everywhere I went. I’d say that really informs a lot of what I do. Also since last September my new muses have been my amazing twin daughters.

Why should people go see your show at Fuji Rock?

You’ve probably never seen a singer-songwriter quite like me. I use a whole lot of pedals and effects through three guitar amps, a bass amp, an electric guitar and a mic to make really unique sounds and songs.

Where will you be playing at Fuji Rock?

I’ll be playing the Gypsy Avalon stage in the morning on Saturday, please come and have an early space-out session with me.

Welcome to Tanizaworld.

Start your Saturday off right by opening up your third eye and floating off into the cosmos with Tanizawa Tomofumi.

Check out his website here