Yasu Cub is a Tokyo-based band led by Atlanta-born songwriter Jacob Oki Ahearn. Their style blends elements of indie (bands like Death Cab for Cutie), slowcore (think Red House Painters), and dream pop (Real Estate, Turnover) – but this song in particular feels like it is inspired by something else.
Let’s address the obvious first. After moving to the American West Coast and also Japan for college and work, and with a pandemic in between, it had been nearly seven years since Jacob Ahern Oki returned to his hometown in Georgia.
He spent the summer of 2024 there and embarked on a multi-city acoustic solo tour across the country, reconnecting with childhood friends and family along the way, and he captured the experience in this song.
The song name checks Nick Drake (“back at the lake where we listened to Nick Drake, smoking on a spliff knowing these will be the old days” – or words to that effect), and his influence is clear. There’s also a touch of the classic Bright Eyes album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning to the instrumentation (particularly the pedal steel), but the real blood relative to this song – and hear me out, now – is Jack Johnson. As someone I’ve never gone out of my way to deliberately listen to, I’m not hugely familiar. BUT I used to work in a branch of a chain of commercial record shops, and I remember hearing his In Between Dreams album and the soundtrack that he put together for the Curious George movie, so trust me when I tell you that there are definitely musical parallels to be drawn here. The laid-back, carefree, wistful vibe is inarguable and actually, thoroughly enjoyable. Come at me.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
