HARU NEMURI is setting the world ablaze. After world tours, festival appearances, and two LPs, the 28-year-old Japanese rockstar has captivated the world with her idiosyncratic poetry. Armed with only her vocals and a laptop, her shows mesmerize crowds from Europe to Asia to America. Throwing herself into the crowd without even looking, swirling in long skirts out of a fairytale, Haru’s performance is so enthralling that it’s all but impossible to tear your eyes away. Her vocal style described as poetry rapping; her impassioned, breathless delivery tears into capitalism, the patriarchy, a climate apocalypse, and melds with an arresting blend of J-rock, shoegaze, and post-hardcore. When she sings and screams, you can hear the crowd collectively hold their breath. Punk, to Haru, simply means “to be most kind to those who are placed in the most vulnerable position in the society. Fire is the core leitmotif of HARU NEMURI, but it evokes more than just destruction; it heralds renewal, like a phoenix’s rebirth or the first vivid bloom of flowers in the springtime. She evokes the impossibility of setting fire to an ocean—and trying, and failing, and trying still against an endless tide.