Mei Semones Announces Sophomore Album and North American Tour

Mei Semones has announced her second album along with a North American tour, the follow-up to her 2025 coming-of-age debut Animaru. Landing on January 15, Howl marks the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter’s first release for her new labels Verve and Interscope. The lead single is out now alongside a Takuto Shimpo-directed music video, filmed in and around a Tokyo convenience store. Watch that below.

The album’s titular song was written following one Fourth of July in Brooklyn, when fireworks exploded over Semones’s block, inciting a chorus of dog howls. “Sometimes making music feels like howling into the universe,” she wrote in a statement. “I make music because I like it, because it feels instinctual—but it also connects me to people close and far. I like to think of this music as my howl.”

Starting on February 24, Semones will kick off a North American tour that will take her and Howl to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and her hometown of Ann Arbor. Scroll down for the full itinerary.

Howl:
01 Howl
02 素直になりたい
03 2 Hands
04 Akumu
05 Chichibu
06 Towards Manhattan
07 Senro
08 Hoteru
09 Korokke
10 Monster
11 Kira Kira

Mei Semones:
10-15 New York, NY - Lincoln Center
02-24 Boston, MA - The Sinclair *
02-25 Portland, ME - SPACE *
02-26 Montréal, Québec - Theatre Fairmount *
02-27 Toronto, Ontario - Concert Hall *
03-01 Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark *
03-02 Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall *
03-03 Cleveland, OH - Mahall’s *
03-05 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer *
03-06 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
04-09 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-10 Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
04-11 Atlanta, GA - Terminal West
04-13 Nashville, TN - Third Man Records
04-15 Dallas, TX - Texas Theatre
04-16 Houston, TX - White Oak Upstairs
04-17 Austin, TX - Mohawk
04-20 Tucson, AZ - La Rosa
04-21 San Diego, CA - Music Box
04-23 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre
04-24 San Francisco, CA - The Castro
04-26 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
04-27 Vancouver, British Canada - Commodore
04-28 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
04-30 Boise, ID - Shrine Basement
05-01 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby
05-02 Denver, CO - Bluebird
05-04 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
05-05 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
05-06 Lexington, KY - The Burl
05-07 Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
05-08 Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Hall