Yama Warashi is the vision of Yoshino Shigihara, a Japanese musician and artist whose past projects include cult favourites Zun Zun Egui (Bella Union), of which she was a co-founder. Inspired by Japanese folk dance, free jazz and tribal African music, and heavily saturated in psychedelia, Yama Warashi’s songs are lyrically outlandish and charming, melodically addictive and mythical; the band name translates from Shigihara’s native tongue as “small childlike mountain spirit”. Having made herself at home in the thriving Bristol scene, in 2019 Shigihara moved to London, in search of new inspiration, and with a desire to change up her band to incorporate more female musicians. Immersed in the capital’s creative community, she wasted no time in forming a new female-focused incarnation of Yama Warashi. Their first headline London show since her move – a sellout success at Dalston’s Café OTO in December 2019 – revealed a powerful ensemble, fizzing with musical chemistry.