Mei Semones – Koneko (ft. Liana Flores)
Brooklyn-based guitarist and songwriter Mei Semones is releasing her new EP Kurage on April 10 via Bayonet Records. Lead single “Koneko” is out now, featuring British-Brazilian singer-songwriter Liana Flores. It’s a duet in the truest sense — both voices share the space naturally, neither competing for attention.
The song came out of Semones’ first trip to London in April 2025, staying with Flores. She wrote about it plainly: “I was staying with Liana, and the imagery in the lyrics is inspired by our time together: we walked along the canal, drank tea, ate strawberries and cookies, played with her cat, and went to the park to look at the birds. I hope that the song will make people smile and remind them of the pureness of a good friend”. That directness carries through into the lyrics. Japanese, English, and Portuguese move in and out of each other without explanation — いちご (strawberry), cup of tea, クッキー (cookies), 猫ちゃん (kitty) — small, concrete things from that day. It doesn’t draw attention to the multilingualism, it just uses it.
The production sits somewhere between jazz and bossa nova — light, melodic guitar work running underneath high-pitched vocal melodies, the whole thing landing closer to pop than academic genre exercise. There’s a moment where the song opens up into something slightly more reflective — swans on the Thames, a scone stolen by a cat, a few lines shifting into Portuguese (vontade de chorar, eu rio mais — “feel like crying, I laugh more”) — before pulling back into the main melody. It’s a small detour that earns its place. The closing line, “nothing complicated about it / maybe it’s a different type of love”, lands without overselling it.
Semones built her reputation with the 2024 Kabutomushi EP and her debut LP Animaru, which picked up attention from the New York Times, The FADER, and Pigeons & Planes. “Koneko” is a strong entry point into her work — it’s warm, well-constructed, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
