Screamo, Black Metal, Post Metal and Shoegaze collide on the newest immersive split from kokeshi, [’selvə], and Presence of Soul

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Tokyo Jupiter Records, the label is releasing a 3-way split entitled “Immagine Residua”, featuring kokeshi (blackgaze/dark hardcore from Japan), IDIOTEQ featured band [’selvə] (post-black/screamo from Italy, with guest vocals from Shizune) and Presence of Soul (post-metal/shoegaze from Japan) on CD and digital! The release is officially out tomorrow, but today we’re stoked to give you an early stream of this mighty behemoth.

Tokyo Jupiter is a Japanese independent record label founded in December 2007 and based in Tokyo, to support underground artists playing beautiful and emotional music with DIY ethic, through the traditional CD release and booking shows in Japan.

“This special release brings new inspiration and rediscovery through the musical elements we have focused on over the years and the friendships we have built.” – comments the label.

“It features Italian post-black/screamo maestros [’selvə], who released a compilation album together, toured Japan and deeply impressed us with their amazing live performances mixing European-style screamo, black metal and post-rock; Japanese post-metal veterans Presence of Soul, who have been evolving their own unique style that includes doom, sludge and shoegaze elements; and up-and-coming Japanese blackgaze/dark hardcore band kokeshi, who may bring new possibilities to the Japanese underground and extreme music scene.”

“This project was born from the mind of Kimi (Tokyo Jupiter Records), who asked us to be a part of a celebrative record for the label’s fifteen anniversary.” – comments [’selvə].

“We were already thinking about starting to write something new since we haven’t released anything in a long time and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We’re all living far from each other at the moment and we’ve only had a few months to make it happen, so we planned some rehearsals in advance and focused 100% on writing something special despite the short time we had. The result is something different than our latest material but it’s something we’re really proud of.”

kokeshi had their own story regarding their friendship with the label. “A few years ago, a Japanese post-black metal band called pale, who toured Japan with [’selvə], introduced us to Tokyo Jupiter Records. Kimi, the label owner, came to see us and liked our show, which is how we got involved in this project.” – says the band.

Presence of Soul adds: “Due to our songwriting process and other reasons, we have refrained from being part of projects such as a split, but in honor of Tokyo Jupiter Records’ 15th anniversary, we decided to join as a tribute to their unique activities and because it’s great to collaborate with other bands from Japan and overseas.”

Continues [‘selva]: “We decided to include Enrico in the project as well to cherish the friendship and respect we share with Shizune, we were sure he would do a great job and pay a proper tribute to the Japanese screamo genre.”

As for the kokeshi contribution, the band’s guitarist Adel explains: “I would like you to catch a glimpse of the majestic nature, life that can’t resist life-span, and beautiful melodies in the heavy depression and destructive sound. The inorganic arpeggios of the looping guitar in the second half, the intersecting vocal approach and the rhythm section are the points I put the most effort into.”

Kokeshi‘s vocalist Nana adds: “I wrote the lyrics to inspire myself. The first half of the song expresses the difficult situation I’m in, the middle part expresses the resentment surrounding me, and the second half expresses my strong will to live in the present. I would be happy if I could inspire someone with the lyrics.”

“To write our song for this project, we tried a few new things.” – comments Presence Of Soul. “We wrote all the lyrics in Japanese and used our guitarist Ryo as the main vocalist, and we think we were able to create a new sound with some Doom-like elements.”

“As for the lyrics, “A single event creates multiple aspects depending on who interprets it. If the things and objects we believe in are just concepts, what is “true” in the common mind?” We used the Christian trinity (A god manifested in three forms and three things are aspects of one thing) to express this.”

Asked about their local alt music scene in the post-COVID era, [’selvə] admit that the Italian scene is finally getting back together.

“There are many shows and festivals happening every month now, despite many venues and other places had to close down during the pandemic. Hopefully things will get even better, it looks like people are really excited to attend and support underground shows once again and maybe this interest will grow and lead to something new, fingers crossed!”

“Even in the post-Covid era, we don’t think the atmosphere of the local scene has changed much, but other aspects have changed.” – admit Japan’s kokeshi. 

“During the period when people couldn’t go to venues, many bands were releasing new songs and music videos, and focusing on streaming live shows with no audience, which led us to often think about how we could make our presence felt in the situation. We simply began to speed up the pace of releasing new songs and music videos, which had a positive impact on our show attendance as well.”

“In the post-Covid era, we have been playing fewer shows in Japan and touring overseas” – says Presence Of Soul. “But in the meantime, we have been focusing more on songwriting, creating artwork for the band, and releasing new songs with new approaches like this one. We just keep doing what we can do, because it’s now.”

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