diff --git a/search/bleve/analyzer.go b/search/bleve/analyzer.go
index 4850177f..fd428b86 100644
--- a/search/bleve/analyzer.go
+++ b/search/bleve/analyzer.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/v2/analysis/lang/cjk"
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/v2/analysis/token/lowercase"
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/v2/analysis/token/ngram"
-	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/v2/analysis/token/porter"
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/v2/analysis/token/unicodenorm"
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/v2/registry"
 	"github.com/robpike/nihongo"
@@ -31,12 +30,6 @@ func AnalyzerConstructor(config map[string]interface{}, cache *registry.Cache) (
 	}
 	_ = cjkFilter
 
-	porterFilter, err := cache.TokenFilterNamed(porter.Name)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	_ = porterFilter
-
 	toLowerFilter, err := cache.TokenFilterNamed(lowercase.Name)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -56,8 +49,31 @@ func AnalyzerConstructor(config map[string]interface{}, cache *registry.Cache) (
 	return &rv, nil
 }
 
+func QueryAnalyzerConstructor(config map[string]any, cache *registry.Cache) (analysis.Analyzer, error) {
+	tokenizer, err := cache.TokenizerNamed(web.Name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	toLowerFilter, err := cache.TokenFilterNamed(lowercase.Name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	rv := analysis.DefaultAnalyzer{
+		Tokenizer: tokenizer,
+		TokenFilters: []analysis.TokenFilter{
+			FilterFn(RomajiFilter),
+			toLowerFilter,
+		},
+	}
+
+	return &rv, nil
+}
+
 func init() {
 	registry.RegisterAnalyzer("radio", AnalyzerConstructor)
+	registry.RegisterAnalyzer("radio-query", QueryAnalyzerConstructor)
 }
 
 type FilterFn func(input analysis.TokenStream) analysis.TokenStream
diff --git a/search/bleve/client.go b/search/bleve/client.go
index 5754d65a..5b58cc52 100644
--- a/search/bleve/client.go
+++ b/search/bleve/client.go
@@ -36,6 +36,14 @@ type Client struct {
 	hc *http.Client
 }
 
+type SearchError struct {
+	Err string
+}
+
+func (se *SearchError) Error() string {
+	return se.Err
+}
+
 var _ radio.SearchService = &Client{}
 
 func (c *Client) Search(ctx context.Context, query string, limit int64, offset int64) (*radio.SearchResult, error) {
@@ -47,8 +55,7 @@ func (c *Client) Search(ctx context.Context, query string, limit int64, offset i
 		return nil, errors.E(op, err)
 	}
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		// TODO: report actual error
-		return nil, errors.E(op, err)
+		return nil, errors.E(op, decodeError(resp.Body))
 	}
 
 	result := new(bleve.SearchResult)
diff --git a/search/bleve/main.go b/search/bleve/main.go
index 4ab384b2..52806ce2 100644
--- a/search/bleve/main.go
+++ b/search/bleve/main.go
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ func constructIndexMapping() (mapping.IndexMapping, error) {
 	// create a mapping for our radio.Song type
 	sm := bleve.NewDocumentStaticMapping()
 	sm.StructTagKey = "bleve"
-	sm.DefaultAnalyzer = "radio"
+	sm.DefaultAnalyzer = "radio-query"
 
 	title := mixedTextMapping()
 	sm.AddFieldMappingsAt("title", title)
diff --git a/search/bleve/server.go b/search/bleve/server.go
index 3afa6830..15899a89 100644
--- a/search/bleve/server.go
+++ b/search/bleve/server.go
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ func SearchHandler(idx *index) http.HandlerFunc {
 			err = errors.E(op, err)
 			hlog.FromRequest(r).Error().Err(err).Msg("failed to search")
 			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			_ = encodeError(w, err)
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -178,6 +179,10 @@ func SearchJSONHandler(idx *index) http.HandlerFunc {
 		if err != nil {
 			err = errors.E(op, err)
 			hlog.FromRequest(r).Error().Err(err).Msg("failed to search")
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(&SearchError{
+				Err: err.Error(),
+			})
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -216,6 +221,42 @@ func decodeResult(src io.Reader, result *bleve.SearchResult) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func encodeError(dst io.Writer, err error) error {
+	const op errors.Op = "search/bleve.encodeError"
+
+	var errString = "<nil>"
+	if err != nil {
+		errString = err.Error()
+	}
+
+	se := &SearchError{
+		Err: errString,
+	}
+
+	enc := _cache.enc.Get()
+	enc.Reset(dst)
+	defer _cache.enc.Put(enc)
+	if err := enc.Encode(se); err != nil {
+		return errors.E(op, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func decodeError(src io.Reader) *SearchError {
+	const op errors.Op = "search/bleve.decodeError"
+	var se SearchError
+
+	dec := _cache.dec.Get()
+	dec.Reset(src)
+	defer _cache.dec.Put(dec)
+	if err := dec.Decode(&se); err != nil {
+		return &SearchError{
+			Err: errors.E(op, err).Error(),
+		}
+	}
+	return &se
+}
+
 func bleveToRadio(result *bleve.SearchResult) (*radio.SearchResult, error) {
 	const op errors.Op = "search/bleve.bleveToRadio"