LOVE her current version or Rasen.

I never been a fans of this song, but how time has shaped her voice and to sing her old song make me incredibly emotion.

Sounds lovely! I like Rasen, I'm glad she's performing it.

This user uploaded a few clips from her last tour. She SOUNDS amazing, like literally. I didn't expect for her to sing in such emotions and logic after her illness, but she blew me away this time.

^ I checked out the clips as well. Hi no Tori is still my favourite out of those, she just performs it so beutifully, it's a really moving concert ender. She sounds great singing Gekkou too.

Hinagiku is out! Thoughts? My impression of both of the new songs is that they're like 4/5, good but not quite there. That's been a bit of a recurring problem for her in this current Victor era, as most of Syndrome suffered from the same thing. I think Hinagiku has a great melody, full of sadness, but the arrangement is a bit too static and doesn't really hit a climax, which holds the song back from being really striking and memorable. Twilight Dreams also has a great melody, it feels very bittersweet (which I'm always a sucker for) and unresolved in the best way, but again, the arrangement feels a bit overstuffed and static and leaves less of an impact. Chihiro's vocals and melodies are really good, just like they have been since 2016, but I think the arrangements need to get more dynamic and stripped down. I still think her best work from this era is the acoustic version of Ao no Hakobune, where the piano arrangement beautifully highlights Chihiro's vocals, brings space and gravity and makes the song perfectly dynamic. That song should set the example for her future direction.

My feelings on the live recordings are pretty much the same as when I listened to ENDLESS LESSON's audio: all of them are really good, with Last Melody and, even more so, X standing out for their great live arrangements and Hi no Tori for Chihiro's best vocal performance. They really picked the best songs to include on this single, because the DOROTHY trio and Hi no Tori seemed to be the absolute highlights of the tour.

In other news: Chihiro is all about concerts this year, as she's doing two more concerts in December! This mini-tour is titled BEEKEEPER, and the concerts will take place in Tokyo's TOKYO DOME CITY HALL on December 11th and in Osaka's NHK Osaka Hall on December 19th.

Hinagiku is too average for my liking, there is an imbalance between her voice and the arrangement. I LOVE the orchestra, it reminds me her grand ballade "infection" in so many way, yet her voice is too raw, that it was overwhelmed by the whole orchestra thing. The song's melody is fine, there are some part that reminds me of some Enka songs.

Twilight dreams on the other hand just sounds like a couple song which doesn't has any climax that I can remember.

I just read that the concert in Paris is cancelled.

source: OW

^ I saw the news too. Really bums me out. :(

In other news: here's the setlist for her BEEKEEPER mini-tour.

01. シャイン (Shine)
02. 青い鳥 (Aoi Tori)
03. 漂流の羽根 (Hyouryuu no Hane)
04. edge
05. MAGICAL WORLD
06. 螺旋 (Rasen)
07. 僕等 バラ色の日々 (Bokura Barairo no Hibi)
08. 流星群 (Ryuuseigun)
09. 月光 (Gekkou)
10. 弦葬曲 (Gensoukyoku)
11. King of Solitude
12. Twilight Dreams
13. CROW
14. 私とワルツを (Watashi to Waltz wo)
15. infection
16. VENUS
17. ヒナギク (Hinagiku)

The Tokyo performance from the tour will be broadcast on WOWOW February 3rd.

Double-whammy live release and Syndrome premium edition coming on March 20th!

HUSH HUSH LOUD
Live DVD/Blu-ray + Live CD

Cover:


＜Disc 1＞LIVE Blu-ray／DVD
[BEEKEEPER] Live at Tokyo Dome City Hall on December 11, 2018
01. シャイン (Shine)
02. 青い鳥 (Aoi Tori)
03. 漂流の羽根 (Hyouryuu no Hane)
04. edge
05. MAGICAL WORLD
06. 螺旋 (Rasen)
07. 僕等 バラ色の日々 (Bokura Barairo no Hibi)
08. 流星群 (Ryuuseigun)
09. 月光 (Gekkou)
10. 弦葬曲 (Gensoukyoku)
11. King of Solitude
12. Twilight Dreams
13. CROW
14. 私とワルツを (Watashi to Waltz wo)
15. infection
16. VENUS
17. ヒナギク (Hinagiku)

＜Disc 2＞LIVE CD
[UNDER BABIES]
1. シャイン (Shine) (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)
2. infection (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)
3. 漂流の羽根 (Hyouryuu no Hane) (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)
4. CROW (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)
5. 弦葬曲 (Gensoukyoku) (Live at SENDAI GIGS on August 31, 2018)
6. 僕等 バラ色の日々 (Bokura Barairo no Hibi) (Live at Zepp Namba on June 13, 2018)
7. 螺旋 (Rasen) (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)
8. Twilight Dreams (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)
9. VENUS (Live at Fukuoka International Congress Center on August 20, 2018)

Syndrome (Premium Collector's Edition) includes an LP-sized package, a poster, and a photobook, and of course the Syndrome CD with the same old tracklist plus a second CD containing the instrumental versions of all the songs on the album.


I CANNOT believe they're misspelling UNDER BABIES (as UNDER BAIBIES) now, after it was properly spelled in all the previous announcements and the tour logo and whatnot. :laugh I'm excited for HUSH HUSH LOUD but the cover is not my favourite and as I'm more of a CD person, I'd rather just get the live CD. I don't really see why they're releasing a new edition of Syndrome and I don't find the contents super appealing, but whatever.

I'm concerned about her releases lately. Of course I'm grateful her company is willing to release more stuff, but with all the concert with almost-the-same-tracklist started to bore me a little bit. I just hope that it will be a different render of her songs.

I kind of agree, it's pretty absurd how much of the same material both of the concert tours last year had (and it's really obvious when you see the tracklists for this live release - eight out of the nine songs on the CD are also on the DVD/Blu-ray for a nominally different tour). But at least the setlists aren't all the same year after year - the TIGER LILY and Syndrome concerts featured many songs which are now out of rotation. I also hope for new arrangements.

I'd like some more new music, it feels like the Syndrome era just won't end.

Indeed! I don't even think it's her best era too.

I admit I laughed at BAIBIES lol

Can someone tell me, where I can find the Song "Hinagiku"? On Youtube I only find a short Version of the Video. I was never able to hear the full song.
Was it the last new song, or where there some other new songs more?

The Hinagiku single should be available around the globe on streaming and digital download platforms. If you want, I can upload the single (I didn't find a working download link when I tried a search just now). If you just want to hear the song and see the PV, the video has been uploaded on Vimeo.

Hinagiku and Twilight Dreams are the latest songs she's released. A new song titled "End of the world" has been announced, but no word about a release yet.

Thanks a lot.Would be nice, if you could upload the single for me.
I also never heard "Twilight dreama". Do you also have this song`? Or is it also on the Hinagiku Single?

^ I uploaded the single for you, you can get the link here. And yes, Twilight Dreams is also on the single.

In other news, the TV version of Chihiro's new song, End of the world, is up on YouTube. Note: the song is the ending theme to a drama named Pornographer ~Indigo no Kibun~, so the video is a little... NSFW. :laugh



I really like what I'm hearing so far. This song hits that lovely combination of sad and sweet that I always eat up, and the arrangement sounds lovely. But I think Chihiro's voice is going back to 2014, which is not great.

Thanks so much for uploading the single for me. Thats so kind. (^_^)
Oh yes.... End of the world also sounds nice so far. The voice is still ok. But there was really a time, when I didn't liked her voice. She sounds a bit like she was drunken.
Hope, we can hear the full song soon.

Cool clip! ♥ lol

End of the world sound good. Very 2000s-ish. I wonder if we'll get more sound from this period. I noticed that singers tend to release songs inspired by this era nowadays.

^ I would love more early-00s inspired music, from Chihiro and J-pop in general.

End of the world is coming sooner than expected, it will be released digitally tomorrow, on March 27th!

Cover:


Oh, and I downloaded the CD from HUSH HUSH LOUD today, anyone want me to upload it?

Edit: Been listening to the HUSH HUSH LOUD CD pretty much the whole afternoon. Opinions: Chihiro sounds a bit shaky and croaky at the beginning, but her vocals improve towards the end. The arrangements are nice, but few of them leave an impression like on Tiny Screams. Stand-out tracks: infection, CROW, Rasen, and, especially, VENUS. VENUS blows me away, Chihiro sounds amazing and the arrangement is really good.