KNOWN FOR HIS REFLECTIVE MUSINGS ON LOVE, LIFE AND VICES, SINGER-SONGWRITER AND PLATINUM-AWARD WINNING PRODUCER GARRETT KATO’S UNIQUE STYLE OF FOLK-POP IS CATCHING FIRE AROUND THE GLOBE. A STRING OF POWERFUL RELEASES INCLUDING HIS SOPHOMORE ALBUM “HEMISPHERES” HAS SEEN HIM PERFORM SOLD-OUT SHOWS ALONGSIDE DAMIEN RICE AND ZIGGY ALBERTS AND AMASS OVER 70 MILLION WORLDWIDE STREAMS.
ON HIS NEW EP ‘KUMAMOTO’ GARRETT PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS JAPANESE HERITAGE WITH A POWERFUL LOOK AT TRIUMPH AND TRAUMA, PAST AND PRESENT. WRITTEN DURING THE TURMOIL OF 2020, THE SONGS WERE A WAY OF COPING WITH AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE.
‘THE COUNTRY WAS ON FIRE AND SOON AFTER, A WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC HIT THAT CHANGED THE WORLD FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE,’ SAYS GARRETT. ‘I BEGAN THINKING OF WHAT GENERATIONS BEFORE US WENT THROUGH, ABOUT MY GRANDPARENTS; VICTIMS OF INTERNMENT CAMPS OF WORLD WAR II. HOW STRONG PEOPLE CAN BE, DESPITE OVERWHELMING ODDS.’
AUSTRALIAN TASTEMAKER TRIPLE J DUBBED HIM AS THE “PRODUCER AND MUSICIAN BEHIND SOME OF THE MOST PROMINENT SOUNDS COMING OUT THE BYRON BAY'S BOOMING BUSKERS SCENE” AND RIGHTLY SO; THE EP WAS SELF-PRODUCED BY GARRETT AT HIS HOME STUDIO, WHERE HE HAS ALSO WORKED WITH A STRING OF ARTISTS INCLUDING JULIA STONE, PETE MURRAY, TONES AND I, KYLE LIONHART, RILEY PEARCE, PIERCE BROTHERS, JACK BOTTS AND MORE.
‘KUMAMOTO’ IS WHERE THE KATO STORY BEGAN IN SOUTHERN JAPAN. THE EP WILL BE OUT WORLDWIDE JULY 9, 2021 WITH A NATIONAL TOUR THIS AUGUST.