Yuma Abe

indie rock · folk · pop rock

Yuma Abe is a Tokyo-based singer-songwriter and the vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of the Japanese indie rock band never young beach. Formed in 2014, that group built an audience across Japan and the wider Asian circuit with a breezy, West Coast-influenced take on indie pop and new wave, releasing YASHINOKI HOUSE in 2015, fam fam in 2016, A GOOD TIME in 2017, STORY in 2019 and Arigatou in 2023 across the Roman Label, Victor Entertainment and Boyon Production imprints, and touring with acts including Devendra Banhart and Mild High Club. Its current lineup pairs Abe with bassist Keigo Tatsumi and drummer Kento Suzuki, following the departures of Kou Matsushima and Satoshi Anan. Abe's parallel solo catalog is quieter and more folk-leaning than the band's: the album Fantasia arrived in June 2021, the EP Surprisingly Alright in August 2023, and Hotel New Yuma in December 2024, the last issued on a since-sold-out clear pink vinyl pressing. Hotel New Yuma is a concept record drawing on Japan of the 1950s and 60s; Abe frames it as a collection of theme songs for a fictional Friday-night variety show broadcast from a hotel of that name on a southern island, with himself as the hotel's manager and the program's host, and the half-hour format mixing comedy, singing, recitation and conversation with musical performances and short skits. The solo work is filed under folk, folk rock and singer-songwriter, with Haruomi Hosono and Devendra Banhart among the touchstones listed alongside it. Abe tours the United States as well as Japan, with West Coast dates including Felton Music Hall in Felton, California.

Subscribe to this calendar

Upcoming shows