TOMO NAKAYAMA LIVE AT THE SOU’WETER

2/15/2025 | FREE AND OPEN TO ALL | 7PM

Born in Japan and raised in Seattle, Tomo Nakayama is an artist whose melodic, complex and emotionally compelling music has been praised by the likes of NPR, New York Times, and The Stranger. Beginning as frontman of indie bands Asahi and Grand Hallway, and a successful solo career spanning two decades as a singer, songwriter, composer, producer, actor, and curator, Nakayama is one of the most active and recognizable figures in Seattle music. His music has been placed in the Netflix hit “House of Ninjas”, HBO Max’s “Sex Lives of College Girls”, and the Sundance Grand Jury nominated indie dramedy “Touchy Feely”.

After the critically acclaimed indie-folk albums “Fog on the Lens” and “Pieces of Sky” (named “Best Folk Act” by Seattle Weekly), Nakayama surprised his fans by releasing “Melonday” (Porchlight Records), a collection of instantly memorable and undeniably danceable synthpop songs. Co-produced by Yuuki Matthews (The Shins, Sufjan Stevens) and mastered by Dave Cooley (M83, Paramore, Tame Impala), “Melonday” was named one of the Top Albums of the year by Seattle Times, KEXP, and Seattle Met Magazine, and debuted at #1 on KEXP’s NW Charts. The following year he composed the music for Megan Griffith’s feature film “I’ll Show You Mine” and the KUOW podcast “Ten Thousand Things” hosted by Shin Yu Pai, and collaborated on a song with Dave Matthews to benefit SMASH (Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Healthcare).

Nakayama has toured across the US and Japan, sharing the stage with Cornelius, Built to Spill, Thao, Daði Freyr, Fleet Foxes, Buffalo Daughter, Sons of Kemet, Twilight Sad, and Shugo Tokumaru. He has performed and collaborated with Sera Cahoone, Jherek Bischoff, Jeremy Enigk (of Sunny Day Real Estate), Donnie Emerson, and experimental dance company Malacarne. A former Artist in Residence at Seattle’s Town Hall, his sound installations and compositions have also been featured at the Museum of Northwest Art and Wing Luke Museum.