NFV Song Spotlight: Fleece Kawasaki's Sea of Regret

I first came across Fleece Kawasaki (the project of New York City born, but currently residing in Los Angeles artist Kiazi Halpern) in 2022 at Club Tee Gee. He was opening up for Jenny O. Jenny O is a favorite of mine so that was a great way to get introduced to a singer. 

Fleece Kawasaki at Harvard & Stone

I finally got to reconnect with the band at Harvard & Stone during a Swyndle night. The band was closing out the night and it was a wild way to finish up the line-up. By wild, I don't mean there was debauchery going on. I'm using wild in a more tame manner. By wild, I mean people were just enjoying themselves throughout the set. 

Fleece Kawasaki at Harvard & Stone

His fans took to the front of the stage and danced throughout from beginning to end. There was a moment where one individual danced so hard that her glasses went flying off her face. She went in a desperate search and couldn't locate them. Stephanie de Santos of the band Bitter Half (opened the night) quickly located the glasses under the dim lights of the venue. The glasses so happened to be within an inch of my feet. If I had moved my feet, I would likely stepped on the glasses, because in my search of the floor I did not see those glasses next to me. 

Now when it came to the song "I Can't Win," Halpern called out to the crowd, "You can f*cking dance to this one." That was sort of an ironic statement as there was a group dancing right in front of the stage from the very first song "Sakura." Of course, hey, not everyone was dancing so it was a call out to those who were too Los Angeles cool. 

Fleece Kawasaki at Harvard & Stone

Just prior to singing "Sea of Regret," Halpern took a moment to take a sip of his Modelo, "Are you ready to rock and or roll?" The song was recently re-released with a reimagining of the version that was part of the 2020 The Desert Flower EP. The music is played at times with clashing bass, guitar, and drums with each seemingly wanting to challenge the other two for leadership as the driving focus of attention. 

It is such an appropriately way to compose the song, aligning with the lyrics that reflect the end of a relationship:

I'm going out of mind
Out of my head
Out of my skull
In a sea of regret

Halpern was kind enough to respond to my Q&A back in 2022 and had this to say about the song:

"My song 'Sea of Regret' is special to me because it’s one of those songs that kept trying to present itself to me through various incarnations over a period of a few months. I have a few different recorded renditions where the chords and vocal would be drastically different from the final version that ended up on my EP, but the same opening lines would keep coming up 'as I lay me down, oh it’s a crime.' I was definitely singing that/writing it from a point of self-deprecating irony, but I was definitely at a very lonely point. It was the summer before I left NY for LA, and I had my guitar with me while waiting for the subway, and suddenly all at once the rest of the song as its written for the EP kinda sprang out of me. It’s the last song I wrote while in NY so it means a lot to me." 

Fleece Kawasaki at Harvard & Stone

 

Remark of the set: when someone yelled out at how beautiful he looked, Halpern quipped, "That's the Botox. It costs thousands and thousands of dollars."

Setlist: Sakura, I Want More, Postcards, Sea of Regret, Broken, Firefly, I Can't Win, Fake Frown, Desert Flower.