Mei Semones with John Roseboro

Mei Semones with John Roseboro

From Talkhouse Podcast by Talkhouse

May 7, 2026 · 34 min

About this episode

This episode features a conversation between young songwriters Mei Semones and John Roseboro discussing their music and careers.

This week’s Talkhouse Podcast features a conversation between two ridiculously talented young songwriter/guitarists in the early days of what will surely be interesting careers: Mei Semones and John Roseboro. Semones famously found her passion for guitar by watching the “Johnny B. Goode” scene in Back to the Future, which led her to music school and the kind of genre-spanning passion that feels refreshingly unfiltered. Sometimes she’ll play delicate, jazz-inflected acoustic songs while singing in Japanese; the next minute it’s more familiar indie-pop that adds a bit of bossa nova or some shredding. The fact that it doesn’t make sense is what makes it make sense, if you get what I mean. Semones was a big hit at this year’s experimental-leaning Big Ears Festival, and she’s also got a big social media following—that’s an odd crossover, or at least I think it is. Next week she’ll open a string of shows for American Football on the west coast before heading down to charm Australia. Her first full-length was last year’s Animaru, and she followed it recently with an EP called Kurage, which includes a song made with today’s other guest, John Roseboro. Roseboro has called his music…

People in this episode

Host: Talkhouse

Guests: Mei Semones, John Roseboro

Topics covered

  • songwriting
  • guitar
  • music careers
  • indie-pop
  • Bossa Nova
  • interviews

Keywords

  • Mei Semones
  • John Roseboro
  • songwriter
  • guitarist
  • indie-pop
  • Bossa Nova
  • music festival
  • interview

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Big Ears Festival, American Football

Books & works: Johnny B. Goode, Back to the Future, Animaru, Kurage

Places: Brooklyn

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