The chamber-pop outfit Takénobu steers further away from contemporaries than any other group you may have heard or listened to. The collaboration between Japanese-American singer-cellist Nick Ogawa and his wife, singer-violinist Kathryn Koch could be called many things when referring to the music created but kitschy? No, that isn’t something that should be referenced out of anyone’s mouth. The Atlanta-based duo creates music the band showcases obscene pop affluence through their compositions, the fact that the string instruments they utilize allow everyone to hear it, well, that’s simply an added bonus.

Takénobu is set to release its new full-length album Always Leave A Note tomorrow but that’s not before the release of its latest offering, as Takénobu copes with the pressures of modern life with the video for the single “Peachy Keen.” As Nick Ogawa takes lead vocal responsibilities here, his wife lays down additional backing harmonies as the song freely soars like a falcon over breezy mountains. The song itself is all too perfect to be believed.

Of the video, Nick Ogawa offers, “I created the animations in the ‘Peachy Keen’ video from cork carvings I did during lockdown using bottles from the wine we drank both to stave off cabin fever and as a symptom of it. 

Kathryn and I both love absurdist humor. The ‘Peachy Keen’ video is a loose interpretation of the song’s lyrics, told visually with a bit of a tongue-in-cheek spin. I often think of lyrics as being a collage of ideas, feelings or experiences. I made the collages that fill the background of the last chorus in the video from ephemera that I thought fit the thematic elements of the lyrics.”

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