ACCLAIMED ARTIST JONAH YANO ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, SPIN, OUT JANUARY 29, 2027 VIA LIGHTER THAN AIR
HEAR TWO NEW SONGS FROM THE ALBUM; LUSH TITLE TRACK “SPIN”, GROOVE HEAVY LEAD SINGLE “HOLDING ON”
LISTEN / SHARE “SPIN” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “HOLDING ON” HERE
PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE SPIN HERE
Photo Credit: Mai Kimura // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Montreal and Japan-based musician Jonah Yano announces his fourth studio album. Spin is out January 29, 2027 via Lighter Than Air.
Spin gathers the gentle, naïve, simplicities of Yano’s debut album, 2020’s souvenir, the sprawling arrangements of his BADBADNOTGOOD-produced sophomore effort, portrait of a dog, and the spirit of improvisation that animated 2024’s, Jonah Yano & the Heavy Loop, into a singular, concentrated document. Songwriting, as it always has been in Yano’s work, remains at the center as he espouses ease and self-assuredness.
To celebrate the album’s announcement, Yano releases a pair of songs from Spin. The title track offers a lush welcome to the project with thesis statement lyrics, ‘If life spins you around / Well then I’ll spin’ punctuated by Yano’s warm vocals presented in layered harmony. While lead single “Holding On” offers wistful, groove-heavy piano, guitar and clarinet below Yano’s spare, delicate voice. Longtime collaborator and GRAMMY-award winning producer, Scott Zhang (aka Monsune) co-produced the latter song with Yano.
LISTEN / SHARE “SPIN” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “HOLDING ON” HERE
MORE ABOUT SPIN
Written and arranged across Montreal and Northern Japan’s main island of Hokkaidō, and recorded at Port William Sound in Mountain Grove, Ontario over five days, the 11 songs on Spin present Yano’s sonic identity at its simplest and strongest. He is backed by his long-time band, The Heavy Loop, with additional production contributions from Zhang (aka Monsune) and recorded with engineer Jonah Bonnetta. The shimmering water on the album cover is a picture of Hokkaidō’s Lake Shikotsu, where Yano would swim while writing the new songs. Previously, Yano has long made collaboration a cornerstone of his music – past collaborators include Mk.Gee, BADBADNOTGOOD, Clairo, Helena Deland, Ouri, Le Ren, Slauson Malone 1, Mustafa, and his father Tatsuya Muraoka among many others. On Spin, Yano is less interested in upending his musical language with collaborators than he is in distilling it on his own, reflecting the rewarding solitude of its writing process.
Yano was born in Hiroshima in 1994 and moved to Vancouver when he was four. He grew up listening to blues guitar and classic rock, learned piano under his grandmother’s tutelage, and later picked up guitar through a “School of Rock-esque” middle school program. In 2016, after moving to Toronto, he began recording demos on his cellphone and became immersed in the city’s underground music community. Many of the musicians he met there—including Monsune, Jacques Greene, Joseph L’Étranger, MONEYPHONE, and BADBADNOTGOOD—would become collaborators and friends, while helping him develop the technical vocabulary that would shape his early recordings. Yano’s work since his 2019 debut EP has earned praise from publications including Pitchfork, Billboard, The Fader, Metal, CLASH, Exclaim!, and Complex, while his music has been featured on NTS Radio, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and CBC Music’s The Intro. He has performed twice on COLORS and appeared at festivals including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and EFG London Jazz Festival, as well as touring extensively across Canada, Europe, and Japan. He has twice been a finalist for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize, for “delicate” in 2021 and “always” in 2023. His work has drawn support from figures including Gilles Peterson, Benji B, and the late Virgil Abloh.
In 2027, Yano will embark on his first American headline tour. More details to be announced soon.
PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE SPIN HERE
SPIN TRACKLIST
01 Shadow Of A Life
02 Holding On
03 It Comes And Goes
04 Spin
05 The Door
06 Runner
07 What Happened. History!
08 Cranberry
09 20 Victoria, Everything
10 Thread And A Needle
11 Living For Loving You