決して終わる事のない、夢と冒険の世界への入り口。
世界的に評価を高めるバンドAnoiceのコンポーザーTakahiro Kidoによる通算6作目のアルバム。ドイツのエレクトロチャートで８位を記録し、アメリカの音楽サイトThe Silent Balletにて年間10アルバムに選出された5作目のアルバム「Fleursy Music」を超える最高傑作。テレビCMやイベントでおなじみのキャッチーなメロディーが散りばめられた、あたたかさと優しさに満ちたアルバムです。
NTTコムウェアCMソング「prologue」のリミックスヴァージョンや、GoogleのCMソング「Roads」のYuki Murata (Anoice, RiLF, cru) によるピアノアレンジヴァージョン、ヘミングウェイの同タイトル短編小説をイメージして作曲され、マサチューセッツの高校の授業で資料として採用されたAnoiceの名曲「The Three-Day Blow」のリアレンジヴァージョンなどの人気曲を始め、伊勢丹新宿店で開催されたイベントNIPPON VISIONのガイダンス映像用BGMに使用された「2nd Season」と「Let's Go Crazy!」の２曲、さらにはスタジオジブリ映画「耳をすませば」に登場するヴァイオリン工房のモデルになった一軒家を借りてレコーディングされ、東日本大震災チャリティーアルバム「Hope Hor Japan」に収録された名作「Oranges & Lemons」や、同じくチャリティーアルバム「Hope」に収録された「rust Summer in Tokyo」など、聴く人全ての人の心に響く美しい楽曲が満載です。
久石譲や坂本龍一などの日本の偉大な作曲家に並ぶソングライティングの才能と、RadioheadやLemon Jellyなどに通じるグルーヴ感、そしてSigur RósやKyteのような壮大な世界感を、ぜひ体験してください。
アルバムのアートワークはUKのイラストレーターEmmeline Pidgenが担当。

= Ricco Label

One of Japan's premier young composers, Takahiro Kido is no stranger to readers of The Silent Ballet. Kido has been enchanting listeners for years in various projects, including Anoice, Mokyow, Cru, and Rilf, but it may be his solo work that is the most impressive. Fleursy Music remains a standout album, and, by the sounds of it, Fairy Tale should quickly become a classic as well. Kido takes a variety of influences -- classical, jazz, ambient, electronica, folk, just to name a few -- and stirs up a concoction that is all his own. What follows is a grand experience, part cinematic and part daring, but always engaging the audience and providing a great soundtrack to life's many adventures. Complete with a revised version of Anoice's "Three Day Blow," Fairy Tale is a keeper.

= The Silent Ballet

You probably didn’t know that there is a niche for contemporary, classically based instrumental folk in Japan, but the scene is big and vibrant. Takahiro Kido’s Fairy Tale (July 20, Ricco Label) is a perfect entry to the genre, gently rolling between measured folktronica and triumphant, glimmering bliss.

= Utne Reader

To place a critical analysis of an album made by a Tokyo based artist in the context of the earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit Japan on the 11th of March this year may seem like an obvious, not to mention insensitive, angle to take, however considering Takahiro Kido's 'Fairy Tale' it is one that is almost unavoidable. Kido, the owner of Ricco Label, member of a wealth of genre-defying bands such as Anoice, Rilf and Mokyow and a respected solo musician in his own right, was one of the first from his homeland to offer music in the wake of the tragedy; the fantastic, and free, 'Hope' compilation that was not made available as a reaction to the disaster that claimed over 15,000 lives, but as a meditation on it. In true Japanese style it had a silent dignity and restraint, and yet it was also strikingly intimate; a selection of songs from his back catalogue that perfectly illustrated personal reflections of the incident.
'Fairy Tale' is the label's first offering since the events of the 11th of March, and it shares this intimacy. How much of the writing and recording process fell before and after it is not apparent, yet it is easy to see 'Fairy Tale' in this context, insofar as the atypical openness offered by both into a country typically seen as reserved and retreating, at least by those in the west.

Either way, 'Fairy Tale' is not only Takahiro's strongest release to date but one wrought with a gambit of emotions that far exceed the usual instrumental fodder; emotions that are at times both foreign and all too familiar. It sees him move further from the distant ambience of his earliest releases into a haze of electronica, neo-classical and post-rock that has almost become a signature sound of Japan, bearing similar hallmarks to the work of Worlds End Girlfriend, Motoro Faam, Aus, No.9 and countless others, whilst finding itself rooted in the contemplative compositions of Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Takahiro Kido is a master of finding the right balance between human emotion and technical perfection, ensuring his pieces have structure but do not suffer from the obtuse rigidity that many fellow artists of a similar ilk suffer from. 'Oranges and Lemons' blossoms from a sparse piano movement into a music-box waltz, with strings pirouetting behind it. It is reminiscent of Sigur Rós circa-Takk, rewritten for the score of an animated brothers Grimm story rather than a nature documentary.

Opener 'Prolouge' brings to mind Sigur Rós's country-mates Múm with its hushed, fractured beats whilst 'Lets Go Crazy!' erupts into a psychedelic landscape that wouldn't sound too far out of place in the hands of Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips. All of which gives way to 'The Three-Day Blow', originally an Anoice track completely re-imagined as the finale of 'Fairy Tale'. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful 'classical' pieces written this side of Henryk Gorecki, as well as the albums most expansive moment. Unfortunately, its beauty is presence in a stark simplicity that cannot be accurately summarised in words, as it slowly evolves from a snaking violin solo into a climax that transcends the typical post-rock quiet/loud schematic.

As Worlds End Girlfriend has before him with last years' 'Seven Idiots' here Takahiro Kido has released an album that fully realises his potential and incorporates the elements of an illustrious back-catalogue into something much more immediate and enjoyable.

= Jordan Dowling / contactmusic.com

2006年にボストンImportant RecordsよりAnoiceのメンバーとしてデビュー。Sonic Youthや坂本龍一を始め、多くのアーティストから評価を得る。また、RiLF（Anoiceのメンバーとmatryoshkaのヴォーカリストcaluによるバンド）, mokyow（AnoiceのTakahiro Kido, Takahiro Matsue, Tadashi Yoshikawaの3人とキーボーディストKenichi Kaiによるバンド）, cru（AnoiceのTakahiro KidoとYuki Murataによるネオクラシカルユニット）を結成し、多くの作品をリリース。UKのCan Evgin監督映像作品「Internet is a Desert」の音楽をAnoiceのYuki Murataと担当し、ヴェネチア国際短編映画祭で受賞。Studio Mangosteenの短編アニメーション「Li.Li.Ta.Al.」の音楽を同じくYuki Murataと担当し、ベルリンとアヌシーの各国際映画祭にてノミネート、及び札幌国際映画祭で最優秀作曲賞受賞。モスクワ国際ヤングヴィレンナーレにて、ウクライナのデザインユニットSYNとのインスタレーション「Enlightenment」を発表。ファッションブランド、アルマーニの短編映画の音楽を担当し、ミラノコレクションにて発表。東宝映画「ホノカアボーイ」に楽曲提供。オーストリア映画「Penerose」の音楽、及び音響エンジニアを担当。ニューヨークのElite Model ManagementをフィーチャーしたUKのRobin Masonの映像作品「Weekend」の音楽を担当。チェコ共和国のヤナーチェクシアターにてバレエ「Tanzbrucke 2011」の音楽を一部担当。ルイヴィトン, Rag&Bone, フォード, Google, NTT, JT, SEEDなどの企業のCM音楽を担当。フランス「Purple」オランダ「Another」イギリス「POST」ベルギー「GONZO」等の多くのアート系マガジンの企画に参加している。音楽レーベル/制作事務所Ricco Label主催。