We Speak Music
Sakai Unleashes Debut EP ‘Do You Like Me Now?’
Some records ask to be heard. Do You Like Me Now? asks to be felt. Sakai’s debut EP is an elegant meditation on vulnerability, identity and emotional contradiction, unfolding across four songs that blur the boundaries between indie rock, soul, jazz and traditional Japanese musical influence. It is a release that favours atmosphere over excess, finding beauty in restraint while never sacrificing emotional impact.
The emotional core belongs to Marié Sakai, whose songwriting transforms deeply personal experiences into universally resonant narratives. Rather than presenting vulnerability as something to overcome, the EP embraces uncertainty as an essential part of human connection. Questions remain unanswered throughout, allowing listeners to inhabit the emotional spaces between certainty and doubt.
That openness extends to the music itself. “Orange Tree” stands as a quietly remarkable composition, inspired by an eighth century Japanese poem and enriched through the Hirajoshi scale and Marié’s return to the flute. The arrangement feels graceful without becoming delicate, balancing cultural heritage with contemporary alternative songwriting in a way that feels instinctive rather than self conscious.
The remaining songs each reveal different emotional textures. “Out” captures the internal friction between ambition and avoidance through expansive arrangements that continually shift beneath Marié’s expressive vocals. “Wanted” radiates quiet intimacy, its shimmering guitar harmonics adding warmth to an already affecting performance. The title track provides an emotionally satisfying conclusion, examining people pleasing and identity through dynamic instrumentation that builds naturally towards its memorable piano driven finale.
Recorded between Tiny Telephone Recording and Women’s Audio Mission, and brought together through Danielle Goldsmith’s spacious production, the EP possesses a tactile sense of place that complements its lyrical introspection. Do You Like Me Now? introduces Sakai not simply as accomplished musicians, but as thoughtful storytellers whose willingness to embrace complexity feels increasingly valuable within today’s alternative landscape.
We Speak Music
Phoebe June Traces Love, Distance and Heartbreak on New EP ‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’
For Phoebe June, some stories are easier to tell through music.
Her new EP, ‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’, is an intimate collection that traces the emotional journey of a relationship from the exhilaration of falling in love to distance, uncertainty, heartbreak and, ultimately, learning to let go.
Inspired by artists including Gracie Abrams, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, Phoebe June combines diary-like lyricism with melancholic ballads, subtle uptempo moments and an understated, emotionally honest production style.
At the centre of the project is ‘Thursday’, a bittersweet track about loving someone from a distance and holding onto the hope that the connection might survive.
Written after Phoebe left a country that held deep personal meaning, and left someone she cared about behind, the song looks back at the relationship from its beginning. Even its title is personal: the two first met on a Thursday.
The song captures the complicated feeling of walking away from something meaningful without believing that it necessarily has to be over. It’s about distance, memory and the possibility of finding your way back to someone, while recognising that hope only works when it goes both ways.
Across six tracks, the EP develops that story in sequence.
‘Everything You Are’ opens the project with the warmth of new love, while ‘Dead Sea’ explores the security of finding someone who helps you stay afloat through difficult times. As the story progresses, ‘Thursday’ introduces separation before ‘Getaway Car’ moves into the aftermath; unanswered questions, lingering attachment and the realisation that someone can profoundly affect your life while still being unhealthy for you.
‘One Day’ leaves the door open to the possibility of a future reunion, balancing hope with the understanding that some relationships may only exist in memory.
The EP closes with ‘Ophelia’, its emotional breaking point. Inspired in part by Friedrich Heyser’s painting of the same name, the track confronts the pain of feeling manipulated and unappreciated after giving everything to someone else.
The result is a project that deliberately moves from light to dark. Phoebe June considered not only the narrative but the emotional progression when sequencing the EP, allowing the brightness of its opening to gradually give way to the heartbreak of its closing moments.
Even the title reflects that feeling.
‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’ takes its name from a flower, with the image of a gate separating two people becoming a metaphor for a love that remains beautiful but just out of reach. To reach over it requires effort, just as maintaining a connection across distance, uncertainty and changing circumstances does.
Ultimately, Phoebe June isn’t interested in simply documenting her own heartbreak.
She wants listeners to recognise themselves in it.
‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’ is a collection about love, nostalgia, hope and regret and about what remains when something beautiful ends up on the other side of the gate.
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