As a long-term fan of Kishi Bashi, his violin-looping skills, and breadth of musical styles, I found his third album, ‘Sonderlust,’ to be a turning axis of his career. It marked a move inward towards deeper emotional themes, exploring heritage and generational relationships, and the relationship you can have with the stranger within yourself. It is a fantastic album, as I reviewed back at its release almost a decade ago. Those still looking for violin indie pop bops have some corkers like ‘Statues in a Gallery’, and I’d argue ‘Ode To My Next Life’ is still one of the most symphonic and saddest songs you can dance to this millennium. I didn’t score albums then, but it’s an easy personal 10/10.
Kishi Bashi has announced a 10th anniversary edition of Sonderlust, which will include additional tracks, ‘Comin’ To You’ released last year, and an unreleased B-side, ‘Harpsi Chords’. Each of the ten original tracks will also have demo versions included, bumping the tracklist up to 22 tracks total. There’s new artwork, too. I am usually suspicious of rerelease anniversary editions, but with all these additions, this feels like a decent package to double-dip on.
Speaking about ‘Harpsi Chords’ in his newsletter, Kishi Bashi said:
“I was always excited about this song and even went as far as recording the string parts for it, but at the time it didn’t quite match the overall tone of the album, so I made the tough call to leave it off. Listening back now, it feels like a nice snapshot of where my head and heart were during that period.”
Sonderlust (10th Anniversary Edition) is coming out on 27th February 2026 and will be supported with a US tour. You can pre-order the album on Bandcamp. The unreleased track ‘Harpsi Chord’ has a romantic acoustic guitar meets symphonic string swell delicacy to it. I can imagine it scoring the moment in an indie film when the lead has an epiphany and races towards their dreams in a flash. It is a song of two halves, the first quiet and reflective, and the latter a surge of emotion. I’m glad we finally get to hear it.
For more info about all of his music and cinematic projects, visit Kishi Bashi’s website.
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