PWRFL Power

Photo by Dorothy Hong

Kazutaka “Kaz” Nomura is the type of singer/songwriter who would probably have difficulty making his way to Hollywood on American Idol, but he had no problem winning a main stage slot in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party last summer—even though he had never sung in front of an audience before October 15, 2006, his first solo show.

With an artist name like PWRFL Power (vowels removed for a monopoly on Google hits) and an aptitude for winning highly competitive contests, one might think Kaz had ambitions of superstardom, but the 23 year old lives more “like a blues singer,” is almost monk-like in his rejection of material possessions, and prefers quiet, small audiences who will just listen.

His minimalism in life is reflected in his music: just an acoustic guitar and a single voice. His vocal delivery is extremely casual and hilariously matter-of-fact as he sings, delightfully off-key, about girls, drugs, and self-acceptance. Kaz describes his songs as diary entries: “A lot of my songs come from my daily experience, just random stuff like girls or something I observed in my daily life.” It’s difficult not to smile listening to PWRFL Power, with lyrics like My dad used to beat me up because I was holding them wrong / And I don’t want to beat you up, because you’re so pretty / Let me teach you how to hold chopsticks, please. But when Kaz performs in his native Japan, the humor of his English lyrics isn’t the main focus. “When I get to the funny parts, they just look really serious and quiet. They’re more interested in what I’m doing with the guitar.”

Kaz recently graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he studied classical guitar and music composition. He started his guitar training in jazz, classical and improvised music at age thirteen. “My guitar technique and compositions are influenced by modern classical guitar and Bach from the 17th century. I haven’t listened to much rock or singer/songwriter stuff.” Kaz credits his architect father in Hokkaido for making him more aware of composition: “He taught me a lot of ideas about structure and construction, just space and order.” And no, he didn’t really beat Kaz for holding chopsticks wrong.

The combination of Fahey-like virtuosity and Tori Kudo-like naivism makes for a truly unique and entertaining folk-pop experience. PWRFL Power’s debut album has recently been released on the Slender Means Society and Aagoo labels.

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Kaz popped into Theme’s office one day and played a set for us.