jonah yano is a Toronto-based musician, originally hailing from Hiroshima, Japan. But you may never have guessed his far East origins by just giving a listen to his new single "nervous," which feels more like a Joni Mitchell-inspired track laced with soulful and analog sounds reminiscent of James Blake. "nervous" comes as a musical collaboration with fellow Toronto group BADBADNOTGOOD.
"This song is both a love song and a dream come true," Jonah explains. "The song is about the person in my life that means the most to me now and was made in collaboration with some of the most talented musicians I have the pleasure of knowing." Downtempo instrumentals meet autotune vocals for a slow-burning ballad complete with a artsy new music video true to Jonah's sound and style since he first recorded a track through a cellphone in 2016.
Jonah gave us further insight into the aesthetics by sharing, "for me, the visual aspect of music (album art, music videos, press photos, etc) creates a unique opportunity to publicly archive the moments and sentiments in my life worth reflecting on for the rest of my time being alive. This video is no exception! 'nervous' is about the love of my life, Jasmine, and the main video of her drawing with make-up on my face is a little home video we made around the time I wrote this song. I got the idea to use the video for 'nervous' when I finished the first demo of the song (pre-BBNG). To me it perfectly captures the moment in time that 'nervous' is about, where I was falling really really really in love like never before and how I just had to let it happen – the same way you just have to let your partner draw on your face sometimes. Love is the best. I also wanna add to that by saying I'm not opposed to making more narrative-driven and higher production music videos in the future, but for now I gotta work with what I have access to. And it just so happens what I have access to, like most people these days, is a video camera and a lifetimes worth of family photos and infinite sentimental trinkets and moments from my life."
Jonah has come a long way from the days of voice memos, making big name musical friends in Toronto. "nervous" is a small pocket of ease to bring into your day. Give it a look here and now.
