Shintaro Sakamoto

As a solo artist, Shintaro Sakamoto draws from breezy soft rock, disco, reggae, and bossa nova -- a far cry from the towering psych-rock of his former band Yura Yura Teikoku. Over the course of two decades, the Tokyo-based trio became a household name in Japan, but when they disbanded in 2010, the singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter/designer was ready for a change. His 2012 debut album, How to Live with a Phantom, offered just that, blending together sophisticated pop sounds from around the world with a hyperreal clarity that echoed the genre-mashing playfulness of the Shibuya-kei movement as well as Sakamoto's own psychedelic roots. On later albums, Sakamoto used the fundamentals of his style -- a summery vibe, slippery steel guitars -- to create distinct moods ranging from the deceptively mellow post-apocalyptic commentary of 2014's Let's Dance Raw to the nostalgic reflections of 2022's Like a Fable.