A Dazzling Young Band Turning Genre Upside Down

Koiai (Part I)

Screen Shot from “Looking Up To You”, © Sony (Japan)

It often takes young, naïve people trying stuff out to change how we see things. That is certainly the case with music. From Mozart to the Beatles, revolutions have been led by young musicians who didn’t care about convention. Of course, we don’t necessarily know when a revolution is happening — sometimes historians have to sort it out.

We can’t know if today’s transformation in rock will have a lasting impact. For one thing, it is happening outside the U.S., so our media don’t pay it any attention. That’s not about to change because the U.S. music industry considers itself the only game in town and wields considerable power in its efforts to stifle everything else.

As a result, much of the revitalization of rock is taking place out of sight or earshot of American audiences. It’s our loss because we stand to miss out unless we make an effort not to miss out. The good news is that more and more people are making that effort and going around the gatekeepers. Many of those people are musicians themselves. That brings us to Koiai.

Koiai are a band of young musicians (half of them teenagers) who write and play with the skill and maturity of people twice their age while keeping all of their wide-eyed, youthful effervescence. If one asks what genre they play, well, they don’t have one. That is sort of the point. Someday, we may look back and say they invented one.

To start with, the band’s founder: What does one make of a musician who is only 19 and has been leading her own band for five years? One who regularly has some of the top musicians in the world appearing on her recordings as guests?

The word “prodigy” gets thrown around way too much. In this case, it is fully deserved. Lisa-X has been posting music on YouTube since she was seven, did solid covers of Dream Theater and Polyphia at 10, and has had her own band since she was 14.

Here is a clip of her jamming with Scott LePage and Tim Henson of Polyphia.

Lisa was only 13 years old and had already been endorsed by Ibanez. YouTube is full of videos of young would-be prodigies doing scary things on their instruments, but very few have a taste for this sort of complex, progressive material. Lisa-X has a lot of other videos posted of her learning her chops with covers of famous metal and rock bands. You can find them with a quick search.

This takes place at the Ibanez exhibit at NAMM in 2018. (NAMM, or National Association of Music Merchants, is the largest trade association for vendors of musical equipment. Their annual convention attracts a lot of professional musicians, who demo their favorite instruments for whoever shows up. Ibanez is a leading maker of high-end guitars.)

(Note: the video can’t be played in line here, so click “Watch on Youtube” to see it.)

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I will skip to Lisa at the ripe old age of 14. At this point, she had pretty much leapfrogged the “prodigy” label and was playing at a completely different level:

“Satch Boogie” (by Joe Satriani) (2020)

Young geniuses gravitate to each other. Here is Lisa-X, at age 14, in collaboration with 10-year-old Yoyoka Soma. Soon after this recording, Soma, known by her stage name “Yoyoka”, became the youngest person ever named to Drummerworld’s list of the 500 best drummers of all time (breaking by a few months the record held by fellow Japanese sensation Senri Kawaguchi).

The Lisa-X Band was formally inaugurated in 2019. The core members were Lisa-X and Hazuki, co-lead guitarists, and Rina on vocals.

Hazuki is a former prodigy herself, and is now a mainstay of Japanese metal. Her modest, “nerdy librarian” persona belies a confident, technical playing style. When she cuts loose, she is a hellacious shredder, but she seems content to play a support role to Lisa-X. This is not the same as playing “rhythm” guitar—she is a true co-lead. Most importantly, Hazuki shares Lisa’s taste for complex progressive compositions with a jazz undertone.

She had formerly been the co-lead guitarist for Disqualia and is currently the lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Nemophila, in addition to her partnership with Lisa-X.

While honing her craft playing covers of established artists, Lisa-X was quietly writing her own material. The next three clips were all composed by her. They are startling for their seamless integration of elements from so many styles of music, from jazz and torch songs to fusion and metal. In Rina and Hazuki she found perfect partners to bring it to life.

“Just Be My Treasure” (2020)

|This is a pandemic-style play-through featuring Lisa-X and Hazuki. The sophisticated guitar harmonies and counterpoints are breathtaking.

“One More Chance is Enough”

(with Billy Sheehan on bass) (2020)
This is a dramatic example of top-tier musicians wanting to work with Lisa-X: Sheehan is on the consensus shortlist for best rock bassist alive. The song a progressive tour-de-force for all the musicians including vocalist Rina.

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“Looking Up to You” (2022)

What can I say — this is gorgeous and unlike anything I’ve heard before. Rina would leave the band shortly after they recorded this. She has decided not to pursue a career as a singer, which baffles me — I think she has one of the most naturally dramatic voices I’ve ever heard.

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After Rina left, the band took a hiatus to rebuild. They brought on board an old friend as lead vocalist and two other prodigy-level talents to round out the instrumentation. They re-branded as Koiai.

In Part II of this feature, we’ll check out what they have been doing since re-emerging.