Album Review: Jonah Yano leaves you with a “souvenir”

I LOVE Jonah Yano’s voice. It is so crystal, I would imagine it is what water would sound like if it decided to become a vocalist. Frankly, I am sucker for a sweet voice that shimmers and sizzles, all at once. In his debut album, souvenir, Jonah Yano’s voice glistens like water and bubbles with emotions that have long been boiled over from one of the most difficult moments of his life: his parents’ separation. 
Jonah Yano – strawberry! (Official Video)

Each track delves into Yano’s personal history and much of the 11-song collection tells the story of his parents’ separation and absence of his father from his life through the perspective of each of his family members. Having not seen each other in 15 years, Yano visited his father, in Nagato, Japan, the fall of 2019 with the goal of making sense of their complicated relationship through music. The result is a record filled with tracks like, “shoes,” that shows you healing really is beautiful. 
Jonah Yano – shoes ft. tatsuya muraoka (Official Video)

We all have had a trauma or tragedy that leaves in tears, even thinking about it. For Jonah, this album is an observance of the life he thought he was supposed to have versus the one he got. As a child of a single parent home, I get it, and it is quite inspiring Yano’s ability to turn the pain and wonder that comes from a parent’s absence into poetry. souvenir is a genuinely beautiful album, but but it reaches beauty with effortlessness, in part, because of Yano’s voice. 
Jonah Yano – delicate (Official Video)

You know what is so crazy about complicated feelings? It’s that they are actually simple! Yano’s ability to put forth anger, sadness, betrayal, and genius through back into their simplicity makes the record soothing. Yano’s voice enraptures like a narrator; making you see his life like a film where a young man realizes he is grown stronger than he thinks. For More Information On Jonah Yano’s souvenir, to June 19, Click Here.