Regular readers of the blog will remember Marina Yozora. To date she has two incredible singles under her belt in the shape of ‘Watermelon Pink Blue Skies’ and ‘Daffodils’. She wites songs that breathe until they feel like they’re floating. That approach has already earned her a place in the current wave of new dream pop voices worth watching, but with new single ‘Touché’ she’s opening a new chapter.
Born in Tokyo, raised across America and Vietnam, and now based in London, Marina carries a world’s worth of memory into her writing. You can hear that third culture background in the way her music blends spaces and moods that don’t often meet. She’s already sold out shows in Tokyo, started drawing a dedicated following in London and Glasgow, and is now set to bring her live presence to Manchester, Rome and Lisbon.
Marina tells the story of how ‘Touché’ came into being like this.
“I wrote this song early morning around 5am in my bedroom, so pretty that the sunlight poured through the little corners of the curtains. There are two stories behind this song: one, is that for that few minutes of this song, I felt like I had to say good bye to someone I haven’t met yet. Almost like I was feeling myself in another time dimension.”
“The second story, is that I was up all night, practicing for my headline show in Tokyo, which I sold out too. It was my last show before moving to London as an artist. And within this transition, knowing that I was loved by these fans and friends, was just grateful. I’m always surrounded by warm people who trust me and my visions. This song Touché is my reply to their love.”
Let’s dive in and hear that for ourselves.
The track begins in a hush, her guitar gently reverbed, like first light slipping into a dark room. Her voice glides in soft, rounded, as if it’s being carried by the early morning sun. There’s a tenderness that feels immediate, like you’ve stumbled upon something private and are being invited to stay for a while. As the layers build, synths from Amelia J Smith (AMILLS) swell underneath, subtle but glowing, adding warmth without stealing space. A bassline anchors things, grounding her drifting melody lines. You can almost see the dust particles dancing in the sunlight of that 5am room. Each note seems suspended in air, held just long enough to catch you before it slips away.
Listening to Touché you can feel Marina balancing nostalgia with forward motion. There’s the shadow of Tokyo and her sold-out show there, the excitement of her London chapter, the small community of fans who keep showing up. All of it folded into three minutes and change that feels both fragile and unbreakable.
She has already given us flowers with Daffodils. Now with Touché she’s given us something even closer; a whispered reply, a love letter sung out loud.
Touché is out October 5th. Make sure and follow her on the Marina Yozora Bandcamp page.
You can follow Marina Yozora on social media here…
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