Wait, did I hear that right? "You are not that attractive, but something makes me feel like you're going to be my girl"? That's just the opening salvo of "Alma Song," one of two mp3's ("It's Okay" and "Alma Song") released to promote the 13-track self-titled PWRFL Power debut (to be released on March 4).

As the folky acoustic pop song continues, he throws out lines like, "You're boobs aren't that gigantic, but that's okay 'cuz I don't like big girls anyway" and "Your step-dad has millions of debt, but that's okay 'cuz my dad has some buildings I can have" and then ties the catchy song up neatly with a infectious little Beatles "Hello Goodbye" reference.

The jazz and classical-trained guitarist was born in 1984 to an architect and calligrapher in Hokkaido, Japan. He moved to Seattle at age 18 to study musical composition and later formed the genre-defying free-improv trio Na, which self-released more than 40 recordings before residency issues forced the band to call it quits in 2006.

Following Na's demise, Nomura decided to refine his focus: constricting his work from genre-less abandon to more traditional song structures. The result is PWRFL Power: an unconventional marriage of melodically rich, Fahey-styled acoustic virtuosity and conversational, knowingly naive lyrical abandon.

With the most basic of building blocks, Nomura forges a uniquely avant-informed brand of outsider folk music--one that relies as much on impish mischief as it does on considered craft and technique.

To find out more on PWRFL power, check out this short documentary piece that appeared on the Seattle's CW channel. To listen to tracks from the forthcoming record, visit the PWRFL Power MySpace site.

PWRFL Power will also be on tour through the end of March.

2/19- Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
2/20- Philadelphia, PA @ Inciting HQ
2/21- New York, NY @ Cake Shop
2/22- Medford, MA @ Oxfam Cafe at Tufts University
2/23- Troy, NY @ Ground Zero Basement at RPI
2/24- Syracuse, NY @ Recess Cafe
2/26- Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
2/27- Chicago, IL @ F**k Mountain
2/28- Madison, WI @ Nottingham Co-Op
2/29- Grinnell, IA @ Bob’s Underground at Grinnell College
3/01- St. Paul, MN @ Big V’s
3/03- Missoula, MT @ The Badlander
3/04- Spokane, WA @ The Empyrean
3/05- Portland, OR @ Rotture
3/06- Seattle, WA @ The Comet Tavern
3/07- Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
3/08- Roseburg, OR @ Riversdale Grange
3/09- Eureka, CA @ The Vista
3/11- Oakland, CA @ ABCo Artspace
3/13- Napa, CA @ The Slack Ranch
3/14- Santa Rosa, CA @ The Boogie Room
3/16- Long Beach, CA @ OPEN (Matinee Show)
3/16- Los Angeles, CA @ Pehrspace
3/17- Los Angeles, CA @ Relax Bar
3/18- San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe
3/19- Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
3/20- Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture Gallery
3/21- El Paso, TX @ The Brickhouse
3/24- Albuquerque, NM @ Stove
3/25- Glenwood Springs, CO @ Eagles Lodge
3/26- Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
3/27- Lincoln, NE @ Box Awesome
3/29- Kalamazoo, MI @ New Kraftbrau Space

posted [02.07.08]