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Shizuka (band)

Shizuka was a Japanese rock band formed in Tokyo in 1992. The group made atmospheric, psychedelic-noise music, and was regarded for its distinctive style in the Tokyo psychedelic music scene. The band produced four albums in its eighteen years of existence and constantly performed live shows, but they remained little-documented and little-known.

History
1992–1994: Early years In circa 1992, Shizuka Miura started making music with support from Maki Miura (a veteran musician and former member of Fushitsusha With this formation and additionally bassist Tomoya Hirata, Shizuka performed at live house Manda-La2 in Tokyo on 8 November 1993. On 12 August 1994, they played at Japan's Studio AMS. Both performances were self-released in circa 1995 with the title . and dedicated to Japanese dollmaker . Reception-wise, Mason Jones reviewed Heavenly Persona as a "beautiful CD" and "very fine album", Also in 1995, Shizuka appeared in the compilation album of various artists Tokyo Flashback 4, released by PSF Records. It is the album's sixth track, named . In the music production of this song, the band completed all the arrangement in a single-take, contrasting the group's usual creative process, which was to initially "listen to Shizuka singing the lyrics, jam together", and only then "arrange the song". For this piece, Shizuka Miura said she used texts from the Japanese epic poem Hotsuma Tsutae as lyrics to complete the song. In 17 and 18 June 1995, Shizuka Miura and Maki Miura performed live with Takashi Mizutani at Art Gallery Hasegawa, Tokyo. Shizuka released video recordings of this performance as . 1995–1997: Lineup changes, and American tour Maki Miura told that Shizuka's first bass player "couldn't keep up with" the band members' pace, having Maki himself to write the songs' bass lines. He also said that situation became a major problem for the band, since its members were "used to completing the arrangement in the [recording] studio". Sometime after the release of Heavenly Persona in 1994, singer Shizuka, Maki, and Jun met Japanese musician Tetsuya Mugishima, also known as "Seven". Even though Seven originally was a guitarist, he was invited to be the bassist on Shizuka for his competency as a bass player and skills in composing bass lines. With Seven's joining, the band was formally established. The remaining show was at the La Mama venue in Shibuya on 17 September 1995. After those three live shows, Seven, and soon afterwards Jun Kosugi, left the band On 22 April 1997, Shizuka's song was released in the compilation album Land of the Rising Noise, 2 in the United States by independent record label Charnel Music, owned by Mason Jones. The cover art of this various artists album features a doll made by Shizuka Miura. In this way, Shizuka was scheduled to play at 19:30 on 25 April 2002 at the Stirling Tolbooth music venue. There, they faced some problems: Maki had stomach related health issues; and immigration-wise to get into Scotland because Shizuka members' identities were under suspicion. Nevertheless, the band made it to the Tolbooth "with a last-minute appearance", and became the first artist to perform in the 2002 edition of that festival. In February 2018, the Bandcamp Daily published that Black Editions will reissue a remastered version of Heavenly Persona, having been the music producer Kris Lapke "enlisted to remaster" it. In June 2021, French label An'archives released a new Shizuka live album titled == Musical style ==
Musical style
Shizuka's musical style features simple arrangements, going from serene and melancholic traditional folk to the Japanese psychedelic harsh noise—a characteristic contrast present in their recordings which commonly develops into crescendos. It is led primarily by Shizuka's vocals and Maki's guitar: Shizuka's vocals are chanted, slow, monotone, and plaintive—often connoting sadness, while Maki's guitar is characterized both by a simple, delicate string plucking, and by emotive distorted psychedelic-noise solos as influences from Maki's previous works in acts like Fushitsusha and Les Rallizes Dénudés. The band's sound and atmosphere is comparable to releases on 4AD. Shizuka was described as distinctive by music journalist Alan Cummings and reviewer Andrea Moed, and as unique by reviewer Dean McFarlane, specially to the Japanese neo-psychedelia. This is attributable to the band's meticulous use of guitar effects while also featuring psychedelic-noise in contrast to Shizuka's haunting, madrigal-resembling vocals. Shizuka's vocals were imperfect and tuneless, but these aspects added an emotional edge as part of the band's style. == Members ==
Members
Former members • — vocals, guitar (1992–2010), bells (1994) • — guitar (1992–2010) • — drums (1992– 1997, 2000– 2002) • — bass (1992–1995) • — bass (1995, 2000–2002) Guest and session musicians • — bass, cello (1994) • — piano (1994) • — guitar (1995) • — bass (1997) • — guitar (2000), bass (2002, 2008–2009) • — guitar (2001) • — drums (2008–2009) Timeline == Discography ==
Discography
Studio albums • (1994) Live albumsLive Shizuka (1995) • ''Tokyo Underground 20, Jul '95'' (2000) • (2008) • (2021) Video albums • () • (2009, reissue) • (2010) == Notes ==
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