“Jacob Obama or something like that”
I met the young lad in March when he was touring with LANY. “Who is the support?” I asked someone in the crowd. “Jacob Obama or something like that.” As you can tell, I had no expectations. But man, did Jakob Ogawa and his bandmates blow me away! From the first chords that swirled through the speakers, I knew it: this sound was something I had been looking for but never quite found. It has the summer vibes of Mac Demarco but in a more sensual way.
After their set, they joined the crowd to watch LANY perform and we had a little talk. Jakob Ogawa turned out to be not only very cool looking with his black nailpolish and his long bleached hair pulled back in a bun, he was also super nice and down to earth.
Japanese influences and waterproof songwriting
Ogawa is not Jakob’s real last name. It comes from a poster of a Japanese exhibition that hung in his childhood bedroom. Jakob loves wandering around on Youtube, to find channels without a word English and some old Japanese music. When you listen very closely, you can hear those influences in his music.
But what you can hear even better, is that Jakob Ogawa is really into meditation. For example his song All Your Love. When you close your eyes, you feel like you’re on a tropical island, surrounded by palm trees and a chill breeze that gives you goosebumps. When he sings, it almost feels like he’s whispering in your ear – not in a creepy way, but very enjoyable -.
Jakob prefers writing songs in his bedroom, but he finds nature and cities at night inspiring too. Fun fact: he has a waterproof notebook to write in the shower.
