Georgia Weber and the Sleeved Hearts – Big In Japan
Led by Australian-born, Brooklyn-based bassist, vocalist, and songwriter Georgia Weber, the jazz/folk trio, Georgia Weber and the Sleeved Hearts, announce the long-awaited EP, Big in Japan, with the release of “Urashima Taro.”
Big in Japan is a tender, thematically rich collection inspired by Japanese traditions and folk tales – a whimsical and wonder-filled meditation on grief, love, memory, and the art of holding things sacred, even after they’ve cracked. At once soft-spoken and full-bodied, these songs explore what it means to break and to heal, to lose and to carry, to leave and to find your way back changed. They’re bittersweet and poignant, but still hopeful and beautiful – stories that shimmer in their sadness, and shine in their humanity.
Releasing September 19, 2025, Big in Japan is Georgia Weber and the Sleeved Hearts’ first release since their 2022 covers album No Standards, and a stirring return that blends Weber’s jazz foundation with indie folk storytelling and lyrical intimacy. Years in the making, the EP is as much a personal reflection as it is a cross-cultural homage, uniting Weber with her longtime bandmates Kenji Herbert (Arooj Aftab, Yuhan Su) on guitar and Nathan Ellman-Bell (Brass Against, Cat Torren Band) on drums – each of whom brings a wealth of talent and improvisational flair to the recordings.
The new single sprung from a collaboration between Weber and guitarist Herbert, who is of Japanese-Austrian heritage, when he shared the story of Urashima Tarō – a surreal Japanese folktale of time, distance, and the ache of never really being able to go home.
Born in Brisbane, Australia, Georgia Weber grew up with Bill Evans and Ella Fitzgerald in her ears, Nirvana and Crowded House on her sister’s stereo, and a double bass in her hands. She fronted a short-lived pop-punk band and studied jazz performance at Queensland Conservatorium before moving to Melbourne, fronting and gigging across Australia’s indie and jazz scenes. In 2013, she relocated to New York City with a desire to “get her butt kicked” – to learn from the jazz genre’s birthplace and study under greats like Ron Carter.
“I came here to learn the historic context,” she says, “but at the time, Ron Carter and Miles Davis weren’t sitting around thinking about how to make their record jazzier; they were just making music that was good to them.”
That ethos shaped The Sleeved Hearts from the start: A project where simple songs meet sophisticated musicianship, and where improvisation isn’t a feature; it’s the framework. A point of pride, for Weber, is that no two performances are ever the same. “I wanted to create a platform where I was writing music that made more sense for me, that wasn’t just ‘in the style of Ella Fitzgerald,’ Weber explains. “So to write songs that felt current, about the world around me, but still create a platform for improvisation and work with musicians that have that spirit in the way that they play.”
True to its roots in jazz and improvisation, Big in Japan is never static; it lives and breathes with each performance. The record is more than a thematic experiment or a stylistic exercise; it’s a heartfelt tribute to the stories that shape us, the people who change us, and the experiences that remind us we’re still here. “I always want someone to feel something,” Weber says. “What they feel is up to them.”
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