Lo-fi producer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Kawanishi was looking for a new challenge after the breakout success of Nostalgia, his debut LP with Nettwerk Music Group. Nostalgia, a pandemic project that reflected on his time in Japan, rocketed Kawanishi from rising producer to an important new voice in lo-fi hip hop. Kawanishi could have leaned into the shimmering, blissed-out sound of Nostalgia, but instead he pushed himself to explore every corner of the lo-fi space. Inspired by the Hegelian concept of thesis and antithesis, he created a two-part concept album. Iconoclasm (Thesis) (11/25/22), and Splashes of Ink (Antithesis) (3/10/23) represent yet another creative leap into the unknown for Kawanishi. The two-part album is the biggest insight into Kawanishi’s taste and personality yet. Following his solo folk singer/songwriter EP and a hip-hop split single, Nathan continues with genreless and eclectic music, this time with an indie rock / bedroom pop / alternative EP alongside TheBrewz. "This EP," says Nathan, "is a genre-less collection of ideas we found interesting. It was written over the span of two years, in 3 different states. It culminated in a week-long writing trip in a house we rented out. My main focus was on songwriting, and I really wanted to use this project to stretch myself and grow in that aspect. TheBrewz did a great job at supporting my ideas, while bringing in concepts that were compatible with the vision I’d presented to them. In a way, both sides went into this record wanting to “direct” the other, while also holding our own ideas loosely. The guys in TheBrewz have a pretty extensive background in indie/alternative music, although they produce mostly pop, hip hop, and music for sync nowadays. I’ve been following them in their various music ventures for a decade, and one of my goals was to get them to return to their older style of writing and producing for a bit. They’ve also been following my music since I first started producing, and Chaz (from TheBrewz) was the first person to reach out to me about collaborating (even when I had 20 monthly listeners). It resulted in a really fun project, since we were both very familiar with each other’s previous work and had an idea of what we wanted the other side to bring to the table." About focus track "No Shadows", Nathan says, "This song’s an amalgamation of all the oddly specific things that I’ve liked in the past: baroque/orchestral elements, fictional storytelling, a contrast of melancholy lyricism with poppy melodies and anthemic crescendos, dual vocalists, a slightly hopeful resolution, and the usage of slightly detached imagery over “I feel…” statements. Perhaps this is just an exercise in self-indulgence, but I am very happy with the result. While it’s written like a tragedy, the melody and instrumentation are upbeat and carefree. This is partly because it was originally a completely different song (a bit of a funny song about a grumpy bar singer), but we rewrote it for this project. I personally love the juxtaposition, but maybe that’s because I’ve been wholly inundated with 2000’s alternative rock and 2010’s indie pop." About additional single, "Take Me There", Nathan says, "TheBrewz already had a lot of this song written when we decided to make an album together. I later helped craft the lyrics to fit the direction of the project. We originally felt like this would naturally have some folk-ish production, but they wanted to do something more unexpected. We sent ideas back and forth until we landed on this style." About alternate version "Soul/Skin", Nathan says, "This song is about the allure of success. I like that the lyrics seem like they’re written to a person, but after a closer look at the verses and pre-chorus, it becomes clear what the song is about." About TheBrewz: Honolulu based songwriting/production team, TheBrewz are having the time of their lives collaborating with artists and putting out music ranging from eclectic hip-hop grooves to pop tinged indie.