of creators, where all members take part in song production. It was originally a name that Katsutoshi Iwai and Takahashi had come up with for a band they wanted to create, before being asked to join Folks. The band was officially formed in January 2013, and based themselves at the Iwai household in Megumino. They recorded songs in Fumito Iwai's bedroom, and self-released their first extended play, Take Off, digitally on March 29, 2013. Their first live was held at Sapporo Sound Lab Mole on April 6, 2013. The band made their first festival performance, at the Rising Sun Rock Festival, on August 17, 2013. In late 2013, Folks were signed to Ki/oon Music, and will make their major label debut in 2014 with the extended play Newtown. The release has a Megumino motif, and the leading track "Everything Is Alone" was shot in Eniwa by Yoshiharu Ota. They performed their first live outside of Hokkaido at the Tokyo Tsutaya O-West on January 20, 2014. Folks made a decision to continue to base themselves in Eniwa, instead of moving to Tokyo. Artistry For the band's first extended play, Take Off (2013), Fumito Iwai worked on the songwriting and arrangement all by himself, with little input from other band members. One song from the release, "River", was written and sung by his brother, Katsutoshi Iwai. Fumito Iwai wanted to create a community of creators, so encouraged all members of the band to learn how to produce songs. Not all members could write music when Folks first formed in 2013, but learnt to after months of sharing ideas. After seeing the reaction to live versions of the songs from Take Off performed live at concerts, and after the band's members became more confident in songwriting and music software, all the members of Folks began suggesting ideas. By their second release, Newtown (2014), the band members felt like the album was created by everybody, and was less of a solo project for Fumito Iwai. Fumito Iwai considers the songs' arrangements to be the central part of the songs Folks create. Take Off was created, arranged and mixed by Fumito Iwai alone, using Logic Pro software. Folks' sound has been influenced by Oasis, and English indie rock musicians such as James Blake and Bombay Bicycle Club. Iwai feels influenced by Yuuki Ozaki's lyrical style, and by Galileo Galilei's music after spending two years living