Photo Credit: Claire Cottrell (@clairelindsay)
By Alissa Arunarsirakul // April 9, 2020
As a child, RG Lowe excelled in musical theatre and church choirs, so it makes sense that he pursued a music career and co-founded the instrumental band, Balmorhea. It wasn’t until 2017 that he began releasing music as a solo act, but we’re so glad he did. With buttery vocals and a charming personality, RG Lowe whisks us away with “Sendai, Unknown.”
“This song intermingles historical and personal events of March 11th, 2011 as a metaphor for the distances between people. The Tōhoku earthquake of the coast of Japan near the city of Sendai was the fourth most powerful ever recorded; literally moving the planet off its axis and increasing its rotational speed.”
Although “Sendai, Unknown” was written about the historical impact of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tōhoku earthquake, it holds so much more metaphorical meaning. Touching on how severe of an impact interpersonal moments can have on strangers’ lives, “Sendai, Unknown” reminds us that we’re all humans living life together. With hints of jazz, this soothing track features a lovely piano arrangement paired with the most beautiful guitar plucks.
“The Tsunami from the event reigned havoc on Japan–killing thousands and causing the meltdown of three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The following morning I was with a friend in Portland, Oregon waiting as the waves from the tsunami would hit the Pacific Coast of the United States, but they came in as little more than a set of small ripples. Looking back on this event from almost a decade ago, I was struck with its illustrative significance for myself and my life.”
The Hidden Hits 