A Chat with Sakai (07.08.26)
Formed in 2025, alt-rock and indie-soul project Sakai features Japan-born songwriter and vocalist Marié Sakai alongside Audie Bethea (guitar), Brendon Daugherty (bass), Caroline Carter (drums), and Ryan DiCenzo (keys). We caught up with Sakai after the release of their debut EP, Do You Like Me Now?.
OSR: Do You Like Me Now? is such a loaded title. Why did that question become the defining thread for the EP?
Sakai: There is something that felt emotionally honest about a question that can be overlaid with multiple meanings, based on the tone you assign to reading it. On one hand, it’s a bit cheeky and defiant – very “How do you like them apples?” from Good Will Hunting. That interpretation lends itself well to sitting in the confidence of knowing that we made a body of work we feel proud of, no matter what the reception is. And on the other hand, a more tender tone speaks to a very real inner child desire to seek approval and want to be accepted. I like the way that tension exists in the title track, and it felt right to pull that out thematically across the project.
OSR: Your music brings together indie-rock, soul, jazz, blues, funk and traditional Japanese influences without feeling forced. How did you find that balance as a band?
Bethea: There are a lot of different music tastes in the band. Ryan is an avid jazz protégé – in the car ride home from a studio session, we shared an almost embarrassingly sincere admiration of the turnaround sprinkled throughout Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’. It was not unlike musing over a shared crush. Brendon and Caro listen to more “good vibes” music, and as the rhythm section, they’re pretty much responsible for every swayed hip and broken sweat out in the crowd. Mar listens to a lot of music that is interesting, lonely, and often, interestingly lonely. I think we share a penchant for the dramatic in our music taste. As a band, we’re rarely at odds musically, but we don’t share any fascinations or worship anyone too much, which I think would cramp our “creative flair” (that is, our style).
OSR: ‘Orange Tree’ draws inspiration from an eighth-century Japanese poem and the Hirajoshi scale. What was it like translating such historical influences into a modern alternative rock song?
Sakai: I was admittedly very insistent on that Hirajoshi scale restriction while we were building the foundations for the song, to help honor the inspiration and also provide constraints, which I think is one of the best ways to push creativity. It led to us using chords we might otherwise not think to use, like an F(♭5), or choosing to add flute lines to provide texture. Once the bones were there, I felt more comfortable pushing out of the scale with our melody, but I’m glad I let myself be stubborn on that one.
OSR: Throughout the EP, vulnerability feels less like a theme and more like a creative philosophy. Was it difficult to be that emotionally open in your songwriting?
Sakai: I would agree with the assessment of it being a creative philosophy! Vulnerability is an attribute I admire in the musicians I listen to and the company I choose to keep, and that always bleeds through in my songwriting. Even our upbeat songs still have a kernel of emotional truth at the center.
OSR: ‘Out’ explores existential anxiety and avoidance. Have your feelings towards that song changed since writing and performing it live?
Sakai: Definitely. When I write a song, oftentimes it doesn’t end up being about what I had thought it would be about when I first put pen to paper. It wasn’t until I started performing it and hearing feedback that I understood I subconsciously wove in darker themes into the lyrics than originally intended; like what “taking the easy way out” could refer to. So the song has gained more depth for me the longer I’ve sat with it, while also illuminating for me how mysterious writing can be, the ways that my perspectives leak out into the lyrics without my forcing it.
OSR: ‘Wanted’ leaves the nature of its relationship deliberately undefined. Why was it important to preserve that ambiguity instead of giving listeners a clearer narrative?
Sakai: I recall in a class I took from songwriter Rachel Garlin, she said something along the lines of, “When you go to a concert for your favorite band, you’re not going to hear them singing about their own lives. You’re going to hear them sing about your life.” That really stuck with me, and I’ve held really close to me the importance of allowing for audience interpretation and projection, and also just accepting that once songs are released to the listener, they take on new meaning that I cannot dictate or control. I think that’s super beautiful.
OSR: This feels like a genuinely collaborative record. How did each member shape the songs between the first demos and the finished recordings?
Carter: The songs continued to evolve from the first bedroom demo to live recording and even since then. We become better musicians and grow our relationship as a band with every recording and live show. While the foundation and feeling of each song persists through every version, we’re always coming up with new ideas, rhythms, riffs, and more. The EP offers a beautiful snapshot into that process of a moment in time for these songs.
Daugherty: Marié definitely brought the foundation of each song, but there was always something really magical – a feeling as the band jammed over chords and found what stuck and what didn’t. I loved how open the band was to new ideas as we wrote this piece. Someone always had some crazy idea for how they wanted to change some part, and we were always good about trying everything and seeing what fit.
Bethea: Midway through recording, we went from a project called “Marié Sakai” to a band called “Sakai”. I think that change brought a feeling of agency and ownership for the members of the band. Mar wrote all the songs and was a fountain of creative ideas, but encouraged each band member to write our own parts. If one of us got stuck, someone else in the band would have an idea that would unstick us, and eventually those ideas shaped the song.
Sakai: While I’ll also be releasing solo music under “Marié Sakai” in the near future, I’m glad we coalesced into a collective unit rather. I firmly believe in the importance of collaboration, of making sure everyone’s voice is heard. Working together is what allows you to create something that you wouldn’t, or couldn’t, make on your own.
OSR: Recording at Tiny Telephone Recording and Women’s Audio Mission gave the EP a warm, organic sound. What did those environments bring to the sessions creatively?
Sakai: We owe a debt of gratitude to Danielle Goldmith, our recording and mix engineer on this project, who is responsible for so much of that warmth. We tracked everything simultaneously in a live room, with only me separated in a vocal isolation booth, to help maintain that energy that comes from playing live. We later hopped in for overdubs one at a time as needed, but I liked the experience of all playing it together.
OSR: Many listeners will inevitably compare you to artists like Florence + The Machine, Amy Winehouse, Hozier and Radiohead. Were there any less obvious influences that found their way into the EP?
DiCenzo: Radiohead is definitely a fair influence to name. There’s a willingness to sit in tension that we’ve absorbed without really trying to imitate them directly. For keys specifically, it often feels like I’m inhabiting two different worlds that sometimes collide. Our songs can have these moments of real delicateness, and then other moments where things get a bit rowdier. This split shows up more clearly on ‘DYLMN’, where we layered both a Rhodes and acoustic piano. For the acoustic parts, I’d been listening to a ton of Erroll Garner, and what stuck with me was how effortless his ornamentation flowed. I was certainly chasing that same sense of ease in the piano parts. Then for the Rhodes sections, which hit their stride in the second half of ‘DYLMN’, it’s really a Vulfpeck influence, more about the groove and punchy hits.
Daugherty: Especially from a bass perspective, I’m a huge fan of Men I Trust, and I think that influence is really felt in ‘Out’. I really took influence from tracks like ‘Lauren’ and ‘Sugar’ by them for that moving line that makes up the core of ‘Out’.
Bethea: At almost no point in the EP is my guitar doing exactly what it was doing earlier in the song. That was by design. I was listening to a lot of Fontaines D.C. while writing my parts. Their music taught me to think about the guitar as a vessel of dynamics, to use it to guide the ebb and flow of the song, how to make the highs feel high, and the lows feel low. Most of my guitar foundation comes from high school, obsessing over Sungha Jung’s fingerstyle guitar videos and learning how to play them by watching his hands and using my ears. I love being able to tell a story without any lyrics, and the little intricacies of his chording and rhythm worked its way into the atmosphere of ‘Orange Tree’ and ‘Wanted’ in particular.
Carter: We as a band really focused on the start-to-end dynamics of each song and took inspiration from artists like Peach Pit, the Cranberries, and Boygenius.
Sakai: When I first wrote these songs, Matt Maeson, Finnegan Tui, and Hiatus Kaiyote were on a loop, and they all show up in the songs. Matt Maeson’s ability to unabashedly speak what’s true even if taboo gave me permission to do the same, and also to belt with grit when the occasion calls for it. Finnegan Tui has a precision with his lyricism and a penchant for storytelling that I adore. And Hiatus Kaiyote… all of their songs make me want to become a better musician.
OSR: Now that Do You Like Me Now? is out in the world, what do you hope listeners take away from these songs after spending time with them?
Daugherty: Wanted really speaks to me emotionally every time I listen, and especially when we play it live. I hope that raw feeling on both choruses makes its way across to anyone who’s listening!
Bethea: The music is personal, but I hope they’re able to form their own relationships with the songs. All of my favorite songs mean something to me beyond what the writer ever intended them for, and I hope we can give someone else the same opportunity to build that relationship.
Sakai: Audie really nailed it there. If I were to add anything else, it’s that I hope these songs help listeners feel a little more seen and a little less alone in whatever they may be carrying.
Many thanks to Sakai for speaking with us. Find out more about Sakai on their Instagram, TikTok, and Spotify.
