Tokyo Jihen, officially translated as Tokyo Incidents, is the vehicle of iconic singer/songwriter/guitarist
Ringo Shena. Aggressively billed as a "real band", and including Shena's accomplished touring musicians Mikio Hirama (guitar), Seiji Kameda (bass), Masayuki Hiizumi (keyboards), and Toshiki Hata (drums), a lot of the buzz about Tokyo Jihen is still Shena herself. And how could it not be? Already a force to be reckoned with at the time of her solo debut, Shena quickly matured into one of Japan's most iconoclastic and creative artists, the first stage of her solo career culminating in the landmark
Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana - her third and last solo record, and arguably the most compelling major label musical statement of 2003. Although critically and commercially successful as a solo artist, the concept of working in a more collaborative band format was not foreign to Shena, and she had reportedly already decided on the idea of moving in this direction as she worked on the intensely personal
Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana. With a history of naming her backing bands (Momoiro Spanner, Hatsuiku Status, Gyakutai Glycogen, Zetsurin Hectopascal), Shena named her touring band for her Suguroku Ecstacy tour Tokyo Jihen, debuting it under its own name at the Fuji Rock Festival in August 2004 to strong approval from fans and the media alike. Tokyo Jihen released two maxi singles -
Gunjo Biyori and
Sonan - in autumn the same year, with their first full-le...
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Tokyo Jihen, officially translated as Tokyo Incidents, is the vehicle of iconic singer/songwriter/guitarist
Ringo Shena. Aggressively billed as a "real band", and including Shena's accomplished touring musicians Mikio Hirama (guitar), Seiji Kameda (bass), Masayuki Hiizumi (keyboards), and Toshiki Hata (drums), a lot of the buzz about Tokyo Jihen is still Shena herself. And how could it not be? Already a force to be reckoned with at the time of her solo debut, Shena quickly matured into one of Japan's most iconoclastic and creative artists, the first stage of her solo career culminating in the landmark
Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana - her third and last solo record, and arguably the most compelling major label musical statement of 2003. Although critically and commercially successful as a solo artist, the concept of working in a more collaborative band format was not foreign to Shena, and she had reportedly already decided on the idea of moving in this direction as she worked on the intensely personal
Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana. With a history of naming her backing bands (Momoiro Spanner, Hatsuiku Status, Gyakutai Glycogen, Zetsurin Hectopascal), Shena named her touring band for her Suguroku Ecstacy tour Tokyo Jihen, debuting it under its own name at the Fuji Rock Festival in August 2004 to strong approval from fans and the media alike. Tokyo Jihen released two maxi singles -
Gunjo Biyori and
Sonan - in autumn the same year, with their first full-length,
Kyoiku,appearing in November. Ringo's name appeared nowhere on the first single, reinforcing the idea of a band and letting the songs speak for themselves, and strong sales of both singles and the album, accompanied by heavy hype and widespread acceptance, proved the gamble to be a worthwhile one. Tokyo Jihen's sound retains many key elements found in Shena's solo work - surprise hooks, loud soft dynamics, jazzy chord progressions, and traditional Japanese melodies - but delivers them through a traditional band framework. Shena wrote on the Tokyo Jihen website that she is finished creating music by herself, classifying her first two solo albums as sessions with good players and the creation of her third as a massive ego exercise, but if the past is any indication, she may still have some surprises up her sleeve.
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