Mei Semones wins Anchor Award at Hamburg's Reeperbahn Festival

At the tenth edition of the awards, which are part of the Hamburg-based showcase event, Semones was praised for being "unique, incomparable and in the best possible way deeply challenging" by a jury that included Tayla Parx, Suzi Quatro and Laurie Anderson. She took the award against competition from Cara Rose, Carpetman, RIP Magic, Soft Loft, and Sorvina.

The 24-year-old Michigan-born Semones - whose mother is Japanese – started playing guitar aged eleven and graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2022. Her debut album Animaru was released on Bayonet Records back in April and takes its name from the pronunciation of アニマル, a Japanese word for ‘animal’. Drawing from her wealth of influences, the album ranges freely from jazz and bossa nova to indie-rock and lushly orchestrated pop, and everywhere in between.

The Anchor Award has been presented to up-and-coming musicians as part of the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg since 2016. As part of the competition, nominees have the opportunity over two days of the festival to impress visitors and the Anchor jury, presented at an award show on the Friday of the festival.

The prize includes a voucher for lighting and sound equipment worth 20,000 euros, and a small tour bus for the band to use for one month.