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Singer-songwriter Michael Kaneko creates alternative music that transcends genres, from jazz to hip-hop, soul, and folk. His clear voice and melancholic melodies tug at the heartstrings. His talented songwriting and performances have captivated many fans, and he continues to expand his horizons, performing not only live but also as a radio personality, collaborating with other musicians, and providing music for commercials and films.
Listening to his urban singing voice, overflowing with urban flair, it may come as a surprise to hear that Michael has a deep connection with the ocean. As fans know, Michael is the younger brother of Kenny Kaneko. His father is ocean paddler Duke Kaneko, so this can also be inferred from his family background. At the age of three, he moved with his family from Chigasaki, Shonan, to California. He spent the impressionable years of his childhood and adolescence on the west coast of the United States. Like his brother, he aspired to become a professional soccer player, but during his two summer holidays, he spent two months as a junior lifeguard at a local beach, surrounded by the ocean.
He returned to Japan at the age of 14 and moved to Chigasaki, where he began enjoying surfing and canoeing. During his university years, he became so engrossed in these activities that he even participated in a canoe race across the island of Molokai. After graduating, he lived at his parents' home in Hayama for a while. In this way, the sea was always around Michael.
However, strangely enough, the music does not have a strong scent of the sea.
"The sea is my roots, but I don't want that to be my image as a musician. Of course I love Jack Johnson and that kind of surf music, and I think it's really cool. But I don't want to be Jack Johnson. I like more urban music, and I love Tokyo...I'll go back someday, but I'm working away from that image," says Michael.
It was after returning to Japan that Michael began to take up music seriously. He dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player in Japan and joined a junior team, but at the time his Japanese was still poor and he suffered culture shock. "When I told my mother I was quitting soccer, she said I should do something, and recommended that I take guitar lessons, which I had dabbled in." Having always loved music, he even picked up his older brother's guitar that was at home.
Later, while attending an international high school, he formed a jazz band with his friends and began taking guitar lessons. Influenced by his instructor at the time, he became interested in blues and fusion, and developed a love for music from the 60s and 70s, including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. After entering university, he began writing his own lyrics and composing his own music. In his fourth year, when he was considering his future career after graduation, he decided to aim to become a professional musician. In order to focus on live performances, he began actively singing in front of people at open mic events in Shibuya and Roppongi.
There is one thing that has remained constant for Michael since then: "Living in Tokyo, there are a lot of musicians who are working really hard to brand themselves as 'the sea.' From a real person's perspective, that might not be very cool. Even in fashion, people who live in Shonan or near the sea don't go to the effort of wearing swim trunks every day. It's easy. It's something they do naturally, isn't it? I want to be involved in a way that makes people think, 'The sea? What's the big deal?'"
It is precisely because the ocean is his identity that he chooses not to use it as his branding. But it's not just the ocean. He is not satisfied unless he pursues his own music to the fullest. After graduating, he was approached by major record companies, but they wanted him to sound "like J-Pop." Due to differences in musical style, he kept shaking his head. Finally, he found a music agency that shared his values, and at the age of 26, he made his debut and was able to make a living solely from music.
Michael currently lives in Tokyo, but he keeps his own pace with the ocean. When Kenny started SUP, Michael also started. He started enjoying it for the very natural reason that "we had a SUP at home." "A canoe is heavy and it's hard to carry and put away. The good thing about an SUP is that you can just jump in the ocean," he says with a laugh.
"I've only been back to Hayama a few times this year, but it's really refreshing to go SUP after such a long time. When I'm constantly working in Tokyo, I find myself getting too absorbed in that world. Normally when I'm creating in Tokyo, I hole myself up in the studio. When I'm constantly facing an instrument and a computer, it can get a little mentally draining. When that happens, I try to go SUPing in the ocean."
Although he says he doesn't get musical inspiration directly from the ocean or SUP, there's no doubt that they have a positive influence on his creations.
"It's not often that I directly think, 'This was inspired by the ocean,' or 'I was able to write this song because I went into the ocean,' but I feel like something like that will come to me later..." says Michael, before suddenly adding, as if remembering something, "But no matter how urban-sounding my music may be, people sometimes say, 'It still smells a bit like the ocean,' or 'It's West Coast-like,' or 'It sounds like it would suit a drive by the ocean.' I think that kind of influence may actually be present in my own small melodies and chord progressions," he says with a smile.
The music that Michael Kaneko creates is one that only he has spent time facing the sea and nature. If you listen to his music with that in mind, you might experience a new feeling.
