On the Rise #1 - goethe
With music rooted in comfort, this Sapporo band is not to be missed.
There’s nothing quite like watching an artist you love reach new heights. This series spotlights up-and-coming artists, recommended by Japanese music fans, experts, and insiders – so you catch them on the rise.
When my day gets a little too hectic, I find myself turning to goethe’s music.
The Sapporo-based band blends together various genres, including R&B, soul, jazz, rock, and pop, into tracks that are effortlessly smooth - and for me, they always seem to take the edge off of a long day.
Recently, the band has been gaining some (well-deserved) attention in Japan’s music scene. Learn more about the band below.
Meet goethe
Formed in 2020, goethe consists of Taichi Higuchi (vocals/guitar), Takuto Kato (bass), Aoto Nagae (keyboard), and Yusaku Aiso (drums).
Here are a few things about the band:
Origins: Higuchi and Kato had been playing together since their high school days. They met Nagae at a live house, and after becoming friends, decided to form a band together. Aiso, a fellow college classmate, joined soon after.
Inspiration: Higuchi, who writes all of goethe’s music, discovered his sound while digging through streaming platforms in college. “I discovered songs that suited me, or rather, songs that matched my body temperature,” he told Yahoo! JAPAN. “That’s when I realized I wanted to make music like that.”
A focus on comfort: Comfort is at the core of goethe’s sound, even down to the arrangement of vowels, so their music feels natural to listen to on repeat. “We valued the comfort of listening,” Higuchi adds.
Literary fan? The band’s name comes from a university seminar. Some of the members had been studying the German writer, but were more drawn to how the word looked and sounded.
On the rise: goethe’s music has been featured on J-WAVE SONAR TRAX (“Warumono”, March 2025) and recommended by artists like Rikon Densestu (Best Radio-Break Song, Music Awards Japan). Later this year, they’re heading out on their second live tour across Japan.
Song Spotlight: “Q”
“Q” opens with a warm guitar intro before shifting into a catchy, uplifting chorus. Compared to some of Goethe’s previous releases, it’s a brighter, more energetic sound that shows a new side of the band.
The meaning: The title “Q” carries multiple meanings: kyuu (救, “rescue”), the letter Q (as in question), and cue, or a signal. “In our daily lives, we sometimes find ourselves thinking, ‘What am I doing right now?’” Higuchi explains. “If we try something different from usual, we can go down a different path. I hope that this song will be a signal to do that.”1
Fun fact: A NewJeans fan, Higuchi worked subtle electronic textures and a slightly melancholic tone into the B-melody (or pre-chorus).
Follow goethe
Be sure to check out and support goethe - via the links below!
YouTube | X | Instagram | TikTok
Quotes are from the Yahoo! JAPAN article noted above.
really nice to see a fellow goethe fan! loved listening to their zanzo no yukue EP when i first discovered it a couple years ago, and the stuff they've put out this year has been even better
also didn't know higuchi was a big NJ fan, that's awesome lol