The two members of ICHION (イチオン), Akira and Kyra, have been working on new material for their third album and now they want to release it through a crowdfunding campaign. The title of the album will be Oro Mike Mike May, it means splendid shining echo in Ainu language. It will be ICHION’s first album in a few years.
ICHION started with activities in 2008 and consists of vocalist Kyra and Akira who plays the electronic instruments. The music of ICHION is based on Ainu and Zuni music in combination with electronic experimental music that incorporates home-made instruments made by Akira and environmental sounds. They describe themselves as NEO spiritual and include LED lighting in their performances, which contributes to a multidimensional cyber ceremony space. According to ICHION, they add LED bars to their stage for the performance to simulate the ceremony of a Shinto shrine. The band released their first album, in 2011 and their second album in 2017. The third album will be released through HIGHFeeL.
Before their debut performances in Europe, last year in the summer, the two musicians went on a different tour to get their inspirations for the songs on this album. They started in their own country and ended up in Scandinavia, Finland and Norway specifically, to get inspiration and eventually record at these places that have been called sacred by (indigenous) people. Since her youth, Kyra has been immersed in the culture of the Ainu, one of the original tribes of Japan. Her father, a historian, studied the history, traditions and language of the Ainu for many years. Kyra took up the torch and combined this passion with music. Akira is a sound explorer, passionate about instruments and musical experimentation. All the instruments that ICHION use in their music and performances are made by Akira.
The release of this album will become a limited edition version accompanied by a collection of photos and stories. To make this possible, ICHION and the label HIGHFeeL, asked for help to make this possible. They started a crowdfunding project to collect € 1000 to make it possible to release the album.
