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Takahiro Kido : INSOMNIA (to be released on 22nd August, 2025)
Where is the boundary between reality and dream.
After nine long years, we will finally release the brand new solo album, 'INSOMNIA', by Takahiro Kido, member of the cinematic instrumental music band, Anoice, and its side projects, RiLF and Films. He is also the prolific songwriter of over 100 songs every year for movie and TV drama soundtracks as well as commercial adverts and events for over 100 domestic and international brands.
This album was inspired by the insomnia he suffered from temporally during the creation of Anoice's latest album 'Stories in White' in 2024, and it expresses the mentality of people who are living in the current information society magnificently, beautifully, and sometimes cruelly. Its neoclassical-based sounds consist of mainly a piano and string instruments and has drastically changed the fantastic atmosphere which his past solo albums possessed. Almost all of the plot of the album and the bass sounds were finished whilst he was staying in the Czech Republic in 2024, and the sounds he recorded there such as hurdy gurdy, his heartbeat and the clock hands and bells which kept time, played a big role.
The instrumentalists who are active in the front lines includes all members of Anoice and consists of orchestral songs featuring heavy and spectacular layered soundscapes formed by string instruments; violins, violas, and cellos, as heard in the lead single 'insomnia' and 'gravity', chamber music featuring beautiful melodies from a piano and string quartet in the follow up single 'northern waltz' and 'mirage', and simple piano songs such as 'refrain' and 'nocturne'.
Takahiro Kido made a collage from the photos he took by himself in front of 'Myth of Tomorrow', a huge painting by Taro Okamoto who is a Japanese artist he respects, at Shibuya Station in Tokyo, as the album cover. His bandmate in Anoice, Yuki Murata, directed the music video for the first lead single from the album, 'insomnia', which is a continuation from 'kill lies all', the lead single of Anoice's latest album 'Stories in White', and she described Takahiro Kido's feelings towards this song at the beginning of the video as below.
"Artists creating their new work by using artificial intelligence may seem to be abandoning their own uniqueness and creativity, but in a sense, it could be said that this is one of the best tools for expressing the weakness of the human species gravitating towards technology. Now, we are hovering between dreams and reality."
This is a new masterpiece of neoclassical music by the composer who takes over 'the sound' of Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
'INSOMNIA' will be released on a number-limited 15cm square-sized box version which includes a copy of CD, lovely photo prints with the album credits, personally signed sheet music for a piano of one of the album songs 'refrain', and a puzzle which have a different colour designed in monochrome.
| 1. insomnia | Takahiro Kido: | |
| 2. northern waltz | Piano, Organ, Synthesizer, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Karimba, Guitar, Harp, Hurdy Gurdy, Bass, Percussions | |
| 3. refrain | ||
| 4. children in the reverie | Guest Players | |
| 5. gravity | Kumi Takahara: Violin | |
| 6. light sleep | Utaka Fujiwara: Viola | |
| 7. piano four palpitations | Kaori Tsuchiya: Cello | |
| 8. nocturne | Yuki Murata: Flute, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel | |
| 9. the liquidator | Kenji Azuma: Triple Drone | |
| 10. mirage | Tadashi Yoshikawa: Percussions |
| Composed by Takahiro Kido |
| Recorded by Takahiro Kido, Kenichi Kai |
| Mixed and Mastered by Takahiro Kido |
| Photo by Takahiro Kido, Yuki Murata |
| Art Direction and Design by Takahiro Kido |
| Produced by Anoice, Ricco Label |
Music Video
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| insomnia |
| BandCamp | https://riccolabel.bandcamp.com/album/insomnia | |
| Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc. |
