Michael Seyer shares “Heaven Only Knows“. Nostalgia is out on November 8th via Caroline.
Regarding “Heaven Only Knows,” Michael stated “This song is special to me for a lot of reasons. I’ve wanted to write a Bossa Nova song for a while now. A lot of different types of Bossa Nova inspired this song, of course Joao, but also other artists like Masayoshi Takanaka and Yukata who created a sort of Bossa Nova/Funk fusion. This was also the first song I wrote for the EP and I ended up working with a lot more people than I usually do. I’m pretty isolated when recording but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone; I started working with my bassist/saxist, Okay Kaya, and even got my friend Marine to say something in Japanese and that sort of set the tone for working with others on this project. I also hold this song very special because I think it is really an accurate description of my perspective on love. This song was actually a poem I wrote before anything else and when I couldn’t find any words, I revisited my old poetry and found a poem, “I Don’t Believe in Heaven,” and adapted it for the song.”
Japanese city pop, Brazilian boogie, and the songs his parents sang karaoke to, these influences help make Michael Seyer one of the most unique artists creating music in the indie-pop space today. On his new EP Nostalgia the 24 year old songwriter, born in the Philippines but raised in Gardena, a suburb of Los Angeles, set out to create songs which were both fresh and timeless.
Michael Seyer developed his songwriting in the SoCal bedroom pop scene and across two self-released full-length records, 2016’s Ugly Boy and 2018’s Bad Bonez. Now, working with Caroline, Seyer looked to his past for inspiration. The six track EP bares the unmistakable hallmarks of classic pop from the 60’s and 70’s – the kinds of songs which strove to find a perfect balance between emotion and technique. Standouts from the EP include the 80’s pop of “I Can’t Dance,”the saxophone filled bossa nova of “Heaven Only Knows,” and the smooth jazz of “Oh! This is Love.” These are the sounds the next generation of parents will want to sing in their living rooms.
