Hailing from Kobe, Japan, The fin. Is an indie rock duo consisting of vocalist Yuto Uchino and bassist Kaori Nakazawa, who was the band’s former drummer. Stepping onto the music scene in 2012, the band’s music is a combination of synth-pop from the 80s and 90s and American Indie, Pop, and Chillwave.
The band made their first stateside appearance in 2015 at SXSW in Austin, Texas. That same year, the band also went on their first UK tour and released their first EP, Night Time. In 2018, the band released their second album, There, before embarking on a successful sold-out tour. In November 2025, The fin. released their latest EP, Somewhere Between. In support of this EP, the duo also announced a global tour of the same name. While touring the U.S., The fin.’s Yuto Uchino connected with Asia Blooming to discuss the tour, the band’s musical process, and more.
Performing music live can certainly change the relationship an artist has with a song. “All the songs originally came from my studio, so at first they were very private ideas,” Uchino began. “But now, playing them live, they have started to feel more alive and flowing. It always feels great to embody the ideas physically with the band and share them with the audience. I really love the moment when something that existed only in my head, or in a small studio room, becomes something people can feel together in the same space. It gives the songs a different kind of energy, and it makes me understand the album from another perspective.” That’s one of the reasons why Uchino is most grateful about performing live. “For me, music is a way of communicating and connecting with the world. When I write music, I always try to be simple and honest, and I try to bring the same feeling to the stage as well. The live setting is obviously more physical and powerful than the studio, but I still want to keep that intimacy inside the sound. All the members are very close to me now, especially because we have spent so much time together on the road. That helps me a lot. I feel like I can express myself naturally with them, without thinking too much.”
There are moments when artists regret not having certain songs on the setlist, or perhaps they included a song without much thought, only for it to surprise them as a crowd favorite. This was the case for Uchino with the songs “Faded Light” and “Echoes.” “Playing music on stage is very interesting because it feels like a living creature,” he started. “You cannot expect the exact same thing every night. The songs, the room, the audience and even our own mood are always changing. That unpredictability is one of the most beautiful things about touring. Some songs sound different on stage, and that gives me a new perspective on them. I didn’t really expect ‘Echoes’ to work so well live, but I actually really enjoy playing it now. It is a quiet song, but when we play it on an open stage, it creates a very special atmosphere. There is a lot of space in that song, and I think the silence and the mood become more powerful in a live setting. It made me realize that even a subtle song can have a strong presence on stage.” On the contrary, if there was one song missing from the setlist, Uchino picked “Faded Light.” “It was the first song I wrote for The fin., so it has a very special place in my heart,” the singer-songwriter shared. “It feels like the beginning of everything for me. Of course, the band and the sound have changed a lot since then, but that song still carries something very pure.”
The band’s current tour supports their latest EP, Somewhere in Between, focusing heavily on sharing the intentions and stories behind each song in the EP. “The title can mean many things,” Uchino shared. “I wanted to express the feeling of being in transition, so I put several different themes into the album. It is about being between places, between emotions, between the past and the future, and between different versions of yourself. Personally and creatively, I think I was trying to move forward while still understanding where I came from. I didn’t want to completely reject my past, but I also didn’t want to stay in the same place. That feeling became the center of the album.” Diving deeper, he also revealed this album was quite personal and delved into different genres and styles he hadn’t worked in before. “With this album, I really tried to break out of my old shell and explore more. I have been writing music for over a decade, so naturally there are certain things I feel comfortable doing. But this time, I felt that I needed to forget some of those habits and challenge myself again. I wanted to find a new way of writing, producing and expressing emotion. It was not always easy, but it felt necessary. In the end, I think that process gave the album a very fresh energy, and I’m happy with how it turned out.”
Thinking back on a few particular tracks in the album, Uchino was initially drawn to the titular track. “I think ‘Somewhere Between’ became the emotional center of the album. It feels like that song gravitates all the other songs around it. The album has many different colors and directions, but that track holds the main feeling of the record. It has the sense of transition, uncertainty, and movement that I wanted to express. In that way, it became a kind of anchor for the whole album. When I make music, I rarely aim for a specific genre or style. I just follow the feeling and let the song move in the direction it wants to go.” Through this track and the others on the EP, he hopes fans can gain positive energy, wherever they are in their life journey. “I hope for positivity from these songs. Not necessarily happiness in a simple way, but maybe a feeling that things can keep moving, even when you are uncertain or in between different states. I’m always happy if people feel something after listening to the album. It does not have to be exactly what I intended. If the music connects with their own memories or emotions, that is already very meaningful to me.”
Another track that stood out from the EP was “Towards the Sun,” which ended up being a track that took some time to complete. “I was exploring a new sound, and it took me a few months to finish the song. I think I made about 50 versions of it. I was trying to break away from my usual way of producing and writing, and I wanted to find a new style. The process was quite long because I kept searching for the right balance between the groove, the atmosphere, and the emotion. I don’t remember it as a song that arrived all at once. It was more like gradually discovering where it wanted to go. That process became a very important part of the song,” he shared. Though there are tracks like this that take a long time and a lot of thought to make, creating music is still his greatest joy. “I simply love every process of making music. Writing, recording, arranging, producing and mixing all feel connected to me. They are not separate jobs in my mind. Because I handle many parts myself, the songs can evolve very naturally and privately. Sometimes the production changes the writing, and sometimes the mixing gives me a new idea for the arrangement. It allows me to stay very close to the emotion of the song from the beginning to the end. I believe that makes my music more personal and honest in many ways.”
Telling stories through each melody, each beat, and each lyric, Uchino finds himself inspired by a few famed filmmakers. “Visual art and films influence me a lot. Impressionism has always been important to me, especially the way it captures light, atmosphere and movement rather than explaining everything directly. I think that relates to how I want music to feel as well,” he began. “I like filmmakers such as Xavier Dolan and Quentin Tarantino. Their work has a strong sense of color, emotion and rhythm. Wolfgang Tillmans is another artist I really admire. His photography has a beautiful honesty and sensitivity. I think I’m often inspired by visuals that leave space for feeling and interpretation.” Having found inspiration through artists that work in the English language, Uchino decided to primarily write The fin.’s music in English. “Writing in English gives me a certain distance from my own experiences, and I think that can be very helpful. Sometimes, when I write in Japanese, the words feel too direct or too close to my everyday life. English allows me to create a little more space, so I can express emotions in a more abstract or atmospheric way.”
For those who may not be familiar with The fin. and their sound, Uchino describes it as the color blue. “Blue has always been a very important color for me. I’m often influenced by water, reflections and constant movement, and blue carries that feeling very naturally.”
