# Kishi Bashi

Kaoru Dill-Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Emmy-nominated award winning filmmaker currently based in Athens, Georgia.
He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of the band of Montreal. He embarked on his career as a solo artist in 2011, releasing his debut album 151a at Joyful Noise Recordings in 2012 to immediate fanfare and critical acclaim.

## Biography

Born in Seattle, Washington, Kishi Bashi grew up in Norfolk, Virginia where both of his parents were professors at Old Dominion University. His mother is from Naha, Okinawa Prefecture and his father is from Iga, Mie Prefecture. After graduating from Matthew Fontaine Maury High School in 1994, he went to Cornell University College of Engineering. At Cornell he co-founded a band named Tamarisk. After flunking out of Cornell, he went to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music before becoming a violinist.
In 2002, he married violinist Keiko Ishibashi. After 19 years of marriage, they finalized their divorce in early 2021. Kishi Bashi began dating American philosopher and professor Kimberly Dill in August 2021. As of January 2023, Ishibashi and Dill were engaged. In July 2024, Ishibashi and Dill married in a private ceremony in California's Sierra Nevadas.
Kishi Bashi is also the singer and founding member of the New York electronic rock outfit, Jupiter One. In 2011, he started to record and perform as a solo artist, recorded and toured internationally as a violinist with diverse artists such as Regina Spektor, opening for Sondre Lerche, Alexi Murdoch, and of Montreal. He supported of Montreal on their spring 2012 tour.
Shortly after Dill-Ishibashi debuted his full-length solo album 151a on Indianapolis label Joyful Noise Recordings, NPR All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen listed Kishi Bashi as his favorite new artist of 2012 noting that he created "a radiant, uplifting soundscape" with songs such as "Bright Whites." In the same year, Microsoft licensed "Bright Whites" for use in a commercial for Windows 8. Around the same time, Sony used Kishi Bashi's song "It All Began With A Burst" from the same album for a commercial introducing their Xperia Tablet S. In addition to these placements, Smart licensed "Chester's Burst Over The Hamptons" for their line of smart cars in the United States.
Kishi Bashi has since been invited to play in major festivals such as SXSW and Austin City Limits and gone on an extensive US tour with supporting acts such as The Last Bison (from his native Hampton Roads, Virginia). In early 2013, Kishi Bashi held a North American tour across the United States and Canada, continuing in EU and UK in spring 2013.
In 2014 Kishi Bashi released his own line of coffee through Jittery Joe's called Royal Daark Blend. Each purchase comes with an exclusive song download.
Kishi Bashi's songs are frequently used in other media. His music also appears in Banana Split, The Babysitter's Club, God Friended Me, Into The Dark, Atypical, the DC Universe's Titans series, and others. He composed the soundtrack for the Apple TV+ series Stillwater, and wrote the theme song to the television series Shrill. In July 2021, Kishi Bashi's song "I Am the Antichrist to You" was featured in season 5 episode 3 "A Rickconvenient Mort" of the animated television series Rick and Morty.

## Discography
### Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | US | US Indie | US Rock |
| 151a | Released: April 10, 2012 Label: Joyful Noise | — | 47 | — |
| Lighght | Released: May 13, 2014 Label: Joyful Noise | 53 | 11 | 13 |
| Sonderlust | Released: September 16, 2016 Label: Joyful Noise | 153 | 17 | 19 |
| Omoiyari | Released: May 31, 2019 Label: Joyful Noise | — | 10 | — |
| Kantos | Released: 23 August 2024 Label: Joyful Noise | To be released | To be released | To be released |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||

### Live albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | US | US Indie |
| Live on Valentine's | Released: February 14, 2014 Label: Joyful Noise | — | — |
| String Quartet Live! | Released: November 13, 2015 Label: Joyful Noise | — | 37 |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||

### Compilation albums

* "7" Box Set" (including covers of Talking Heads, ELO, and Beirut) (2013) – Joyful Noise

### Extended plays

* Room for Dream EP (2011) – Aerobic International / Joyful Noise
* Philosophize! Chemicalize! EP (2013) – Joyful Noise
* Room for Dream EP (2017) – Joyful Noise
* Emigrant EP (2021) – Joyful Noise

### Soundtracks

* Stillwater: Vol. I (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) (2020) – Joyful Noise
* The Fourth Phase (2016)