Akai

Drawing from the common failures of many relationships, Saint Paul based Robbie and Hiromi Matsumoto began writing tongue-in-cheek pop songs soon after they started dating in 2000 and decided to name their efforts after their shared favorite color red, or in Japanese, "Akai". Though most of their raw material was composed on two guitars, in early 2005 producer Eric Elvendahl began to arrange and record their songs with full instrumentation, which by 2006 grew into their first full-length album entitled "Pretty Songs About Ugly Things".

2010 marked the release of their sophomore release, "The Coldest Hour (Is Just Before The Dawn)", a dynamic journey through the metaphoric hours between dusk and dawn. Today Akai draws on the talents of up to 10 musicians for live support, playing mandolin, glockenspiel, flute, classical guitar, accordion and banjo. (www.theakai.com)