Qobuzissime

Since it is impossible to put certain artists in a box, Jonah Yano has the right to contribute his stone to the building... Born in Hiroshima, raised in Port Coquitlam in British Columbia and then in Vancouver, and now living in Toronto, the ethereal-voiced songwriter combines jazz chords with delicate folk and minimalist soul, sometimes wrapping it all in classical strings. Unique and simply exquisite.

Some describe him as "the son that James Blake and Norah Jones would have had". He has a beautiful rainbow of influences ranging from Feist to Leonard Cohen, through Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Feist, Adrianne Lenker from Big Thief or the underrated Jessica Pratt whom he covered This Time Around in 2020...

Published on Innovative Leisure (the label started by Jamie Strong, Nate Nelson and Hanni El Khatib), Portrait of a Dog, Jonah Yano's second album (a Qobuzissime record following Souvenir released in 2020), is a beautiful island of dreams. A no man's land built with BadBadNotGood, these true-false Toronto jazz musicians who can play anything, and who make these twelve increasingly endearing songs even more untaggable with each listen. Charming and surprising like this beautiful reinterpretation of Vashti Bunyan's folk great mistress's Glow Worms.