Fans of Sakamoto Miu, KOKIA, and RURUTIA: Introducing... sione!
 

sione is a project from Yukawa Shione which blends classical and electronic music with strong ethereal atmospheres and vocals. the style of "ode", her debut album, reminds me strongly of KOKIA's and RURUTIA's style, while her vocals are very similar to Sakamoto Miu.

The album is actually gorgeous to listen to. There's a huge variety of tones and emotions flowing throughout the twelve tracks. From the playful experimentation on Birds to the opus of Wealth of Flowers, sione is a project to enjoy. We may not get another album, but I think "ode" is a beautiful addition to an arena of Japanese music that's so under-served.

You can watch a trailer for "ode" here:


And you can download "ode" here:
http://alljpop.co/sione-ode-mp3-rar/

If you check this out, please let me know what you think! I'm personally in love with Wealth of Flowers, but I haven't had the time to sit down and listen to the album from start to finish. I'll try to post my thoughts on a track by track basis here soon.

I saw the name "KOKIA", enough for me to check her out!

This was so interesting.
I didn't know about this before but I think I have become an instant fan.
I love this kind of beautiful weird music.

I truly hope she expands on this sound with actual lyrics. She happens to be a great writer for her other albums, but I think she could really help expand this area of Japanese popular music. It's just sad that so few artists really create in this sound.

In all fairness though, KOKIA would not have the sound she has today had she not founded ancoro and went independent. And I'm so glad she did all those years ago. KOKIA has truly created one of the most beautiful discographies I've ever paid witness to.

It took me until about 2011/2012 to discover KOKIA.:tipsy
But ever since then she has been a treasure.:heart
Lyrics would open things up. It would probably let her reach out to people who don't know of this music. The instrumentation makes me think of Bjork a bit as well/