Acclaimed Montreal-based Japanese psych-rock band TEKE::TEKE have released “Doppelganger,” the latest single from their upcoming sophomore album, Hagata, out June 9 via Kill Rock Stars.
Gracefully toeing the line between wistful orchestration and sentimental balladry, the track speaks of the duality of identity: “Being of mixed Japanese and French-Canadian culture, I always feel like in some way I’m living two parallel lives…a big part of me is here in Canada, obviously, but another part of me is on the other side of the planet…this could be said about most of us in this band” says guitarist and primary composer Sei Nakauchi Pelletier.
These themes of distance and connection are musically mirrored by a gorgeous instrumental. Though foregrounding the inspiration of melancholy 70s Japanese pop ballads, the band heightens the sentimentality with intruding sixteenth note guitar and bass instrumental passages. In typical TEKE::TEKE style, the track is a unique international milieu.
As for the album, “‘Hagata’ is a very deep word, something present but also something leftover from someone or something no longer there,” Kuroki explains. “It’s like waking up from a dream, or being connected to the other side of something.” TEKE::TEKE are intimately familiar with that duality, of splitting reality between past and present, complex melodies and hushed interludes, intense action and lingering response.
After building their sound on Shirushi through careful assembly of countless splinters of Japanese folk, psychedelia, Brazilian surf rock, and other far-flung touchstones, the seven-piece indulged in and learned from stretching out in free-floating experimentation both on the road and with Hagata’s producer Daniel Schlett (The War On Drugs, DIIV, CHAI, Nick Hakim), recorded in a scenic studio in Mountain Dale, New York, the album having been mastered at Sterling Sound.
TEKE::TEKE Live Dates:
June 24 Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Jazz Festival
July 7 Montreal, QC @ Montreal International Jazz Festival
July 9 Sudbury, ON @ Northern Lights Festival Boréal
July 14 Quebec City, QC @ Festival Été Quebec
Aug 11 Regina, SK @ Regina Folk Festival
Aug 19 Salmon Arm, BC @ Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Fest
Sept 2 Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest
Sept 3 Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Fest
