Biography
As a solo performer Shintaro Sakamoto draws on breezy soft-rock, disco, reggae, and bossa nova, a marked departure from the expansive psych-rock that defined his previous group Yura Yura Teikoku. Over twenty years the Tokyo-based trio rose to national prominence in Japan, yet when the unit dissolved in 2010 the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter/designer felt prepared to explore new territory. His debut album How to Live with a Phantom, issued in 2012, supplied that shift by fusing cosmopolitan pop textures with a hyperreal clarity that recalled both the genre-blending spirit of the Shibuya-kei scene and Sakamoto’s own psychedelic origins. Subsequent records employed his core elements—a summery atmosphere and fluid steel guitars—to evoke contrasting atmospheres, from the deceptively mellow post-apocalyptic observations of 2014’s Let’s Dance Raw to the wistful musings of 2022’s Like a Fable.
Born in Osaka in 1967, Sakamoto displayed an early artistic bent, devoting himself to drawing and painting before taking up the guitar at age fourteen. He launched Yura Yura Teikoku (“the Wobbling Empire”) in 1989, first collaborating with a junior-high acquaintance and later enlisting fellow Tama Art University students drummer Atsushi Yoshida and bassist Chio Kamekawa. Initially the band operated as a psychedelic garage-rock outfit shaped by Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, yet the rapport Sakamoto developed with Kamekawa enabled the group to absorb additional influences such as disco and electronic music. In 1997 Yoshida departed and Ichiro Shibata joined; the lineup then moved from independent labels to Sony Music Entertainment, which issued 1998’s 333. Produced by You Ishihara of White Heaven and the Stars (a project that also included Kamekawa), the album unexpectedly achieved mainstream pop success, momentum that carried into 2001’s Yura Yura Teikoku III. After consistently filling large domestic venues, the band opted for the small American indie Mesh Key Records beginning with 2005’s Sweet Spot. Sakamoto’s parallel reputation as a visual artist expanded alongside the group’s profile, culminating in the 2007 publication of the retrospective Shintaro Sakamoto Artworks 1994–2006. The same year brought the final Yura Yura Teikoku album Hollow Me, which marked the band’s first performances outside Japan. In the United States, DFA released Hollow Me in 2009 along with the singles “Beautiful as Hollow Me/Beautiful” and “Dekinai/Sweet Surrender.”
Following the group’s dissolution in March 2010 after twenty-one years, Sakamoto promptly began writing material shaped by the 1970s disco that had already colored Yura Yura Teikoku’s later work. He contributed several songs to Salyu’s 2011 album s(o)un(d)beams, then issued his own debut single “In A Phantom Mood / Something’s Different” that October on his Zelone Records imprint. Almost entirely self-recorded aside from female backing vocals, percussion, and woodwinds, the full-length How to Live with a Phantom arrived in July 2012 and earned acclaim for its sleek yet playful fusion of disco, soft rock, and lounge. Cornelius and Ishihara supplied remixes of “In a Phantom Mood” in 2013, and the next year Sakamoto paired with Mayer Hawthorne for the split single “In a Phantom Mood/Wine Glass Woman,” issued for Record Store Day 2014. The mixtape I Think We Should Make Love preceded his second album, September’s Let’s Dance Raw. A subtly understated critique of 2010s existence, the record incorporated slack-key guitar, blues, and Latin percussion while featuring Phantom drummer Yuta Suganuma and OOIOO’s AyA on bass.
Sakamoto resurfaced in 2016, first via the VIDEOTAPEMUSIC collaboration A Night In Bangkok—an EP of largely ambient pieces prompted by the film Bangkok Nites—and then through a version of “Disco Is” featuring vocals by Synsuke Ono ahead of his third album, the expansive, reggae- and dub-inflected Love If Possible. Released domestically in July 2016, the set reached wider audiences the following year. During that period Sakamoto penned two tracks for Cornelius’s Mellow Waves and joined Devendra Banhart for Another Planet, a split single issued in October to mark their appearances at Cologne’s WEEK-END Festival. In 2018 the Japanese volume Sketches for Music, gathering Sakamoto’s visual work from 1993 to 2018, appeared (an international edition followed in 2019). Sakamoto and Banhart reconvened in 2019 for “Volta E Meia,” a single by Brazilian rock band O Terno; that year he also remixed tracks by Chitose Hajime and released the Eddie Marcon collaboration “Boat” with singer Eddie Corman. Later in 2019 he toured Japan and undertook his inaugural solo U.S. trek.
Early in 2020 Sakamoto supplied lyrics for “Rakuen wo Futari de,” the theme song to the film My Tyrano, co-produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Kotoringo. Zelone later issued Formula, Ishihara’s solo debut. As the year ended Sakamoto unveiled the singles “The Feeling of Love” and “By Swallow Season,” gathered as The Feeling of Love EP in 2021. He also contributed to the Allen Ginsberg tribute album The Fall of America: Poems of these States, which included Yo La Tengo, Angelique Kidjo, and Bill Frisell. In April 2022 he wrote and produced Hajime’s single “Fune wo Matsu.” That June he delivered Like a Fable, his first album in six years, which emphasized the pop dimension of his sound across songs drawn from daily life amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Born in Osaka in 1967, Sakamoto displayed an early artistic bent, devoting himself to drawing and painting before taking up the guitar at age fourteen. He launched Yura Yura Teikoku (“the Wobbling Empire”) in 1989, first collaborating with a junior-high acquaintance and later enlisting fellow Tama Art University students drummer Atsushi Yoshida and bassist Chio Kamekawa. Initially the band operated as a psychedelic garage-rock outfit shaped by Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, yet the rapport Sakamoto developed with Kamekawa enabled the group to absorb additional influences such as disco and electronic music. In 1997 Yoshida departed and Ichiro Shibata joined; the lineup then moved from independent labels to Sony Music Entertainment, which issued 1998’s 333. Produced by You Ishihara of White Heaven and the Stars (a project that also included Kamekawa), the album unexpectedly achieved mainstream pop success, momentum that carried into 2001’s Yura Yura Teikoku III. After consistently filling large domestic venues, the band opted for the small American indie Mesh Key Records beginning with 2005’s Sweet Spot. Sakamoto’s parallel reputation as a visual artist expanded alongside the group’s profile, culminating in the 2007 publication of the retrospective Shintaro Sakamoto Artworks 1994–2006. The same year brought the final Yura Yura Teikoku album Hollow Me, which marked the band’s first performances outside Japan. In the United States, DFA released Hollow Me in 2009 along with the singles “Beautiful as Hollow Me/Beautiful” and “Dekinai/Sweet Surrender.”
Following the group’s dissolution in March 2010 after twenty-one years, Sakamoto promptly began writing material shaped by the 1970s disco that had already colored Yura Yura Teikoku’s later work. He contributed several songs to Salyu’s 2011 album s(o)un(d)beams, then issued his own debut single “In A Phantom Mood / Something’s Different” that October on his Zelone Records imprint. Almost entirely self-recorded aside from female backing vocals, percussion, and woodwinds, the full-length How to Live with a Phantom arrived in July 2012 and earned acclaim for its sleek yet playful fusion of disco, soft rock, and lounge. Cornelius and Ishihara supplied remixes of “In a Phantom Mood” in 2013, and the next year Sakamoto paired with Mayer Hawthorne for the split single “In a Phantom Mood/Wine Glass Woman,” issued for Record Store Day 2014. The mixtape I Think We Should Make Love preceded his second album, September’s Let’s Dance Raw. A subtly understated critique of 2010s existence, the record incorporated slack-key guitar, blues, and Latin percussion while featuring Phantom drummer Yuta Suganuma and OOIOO’s AyA on bass.
Sakamoto resurfaced in 2016, first via the VIDEOTAPEMUSIC collaboration A Night In Bangkok—an EP of largely ambient pieces prompted by the film Bangkok Nites—and then through a version of “Disco Is” featuring vocals by Synsuke Ono ahead of his third album, the expansive, reggae- and dub-inflected Love If Possible. Released domestically in July 2016, the set reached wider audiences the following year. During that period Sakamoto penned two tracks for Cornelius’s Mellow Waves and joined Devendra Banhart for Another Planet, a split single issued in October to mark their appearances at Cologne’s WEEK-END Festival. In 2018 the Japanese volume Sketches for Music, gathering Sakamoto’s visual work from 1993 to 2018, appeared (an international edition followed in 2019). Sakamoto and Banhart reconvened in 2019 for “Volta E Meia,” a single by Brazilian rock band O Terno; that year he also remixed tracks by Chitose Hajime and released the Eddie Marcon collaboration “Boat” with singer Eddie Corman. Later in 2019 he toured Japan and undertook his inaugural solo U.S. trek.
Early in 2020 Sakamoto supplied lyrics for “Rakuen wo Futari de,” the theme song to the film My Tyrano, co-produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Kotoringo. Zelone later issued Formula, Ishihara’s solo debut. As the year ended Sakamoto unveiled the singles “The Feeling of Love” and “By Swallow Season,” gathered as The Feeling of Love EP in 2021. He also contributed to the Allen Ginsberg tribute album The Fall of America: Poems of these States, which included Yo La Tengo, Angelique Kidjo, and Bill Frisell. In April 2022 he wrote and produced Hajime’s single “Fune wo Matsu.” That June he delivered Like a Fable, his first album in six years, which emphasized the pop dimension of his sound across songs drawn from daily life amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Albums
Yoo-hoo
2026
Like A Fable
2022
The Feeling Of Love
2021
Love If Possible
2017
Let’s Dance Raw
2014
Don't Know What's Normal
2013
How to Live with a Phantom
2012
How To Live With A Phantom
2012
Singles
