Shintaro Sakamoto

As a solo artist, Shintaro Sakamoto draws from breezy soft-rock, disco, reggae, and bossa nova -- a far cry from the towering psych-rock of his former band Yura Yura Teikoku. Over the course of two decades, the Tokyo-based trio became a household name in Japan, but when they disbanded in 2010, the singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter/designer was ready for a change. His 2012 debut album How to Live with a Phantom offered just that, blending together sophisticated pop sounds from around the world with a hyperreal clarity that echoed the genre-mashing playfulness...