決して終わる事のない、夢と冒険の世界への入り口。。
世界的に評価を高めるバンドAnoiceのコンポーザーTakahiro Kidoによるニューアルバム"Fairy Tale"ついにリリース！
ドイツのエレクトロチャートで８位を記録し、アメリカの音楽サイトThe Silent Balletにて年間10アルバムに選出されたアルバム"Fleursy Music"を超える最高傑作が完成。テレビCMやイベントでおなじみのキャッチーなメロディーが散りばめられた、あたたかさと優しさに満ちたアルバムです。
NTTコムウェアCMソング"prologue"のリミックスヴァージョンやGoogleのCMソング"Roads"のYuki Murata (Anoice, RiLF, cru) によるピアノアレンジヴァージョン、ヘミングウェイの同タイトル短編小説をイメージして作曲され、マサチューセッツの高校の授業で資料として採用されたAnoiceの名曲"The Three-Day Blow"のリアレンジヴァージョンなどの人気曲を始め、伊勢丹新宿店で開催されたイベントNIPPON VISIONのガイダンス映像用BGMに使用された"2nd Season"と"Let's Go Crazy !"の２曲、さらにはスタジオジブリ映画「耳をすませば」に登場するヴァイオリン工房のモデルになった一軒家を借りてレコーディングされ、東日本大震災チャリティーアルバム"Hope Hor Japan"に収録された名作"Oranges & Lemons"や、同じくチャリティーアルバム"Hope"に収録された"rust Summer in Tokyo"など、聴く人全ての人の心に響く美しい楽曲が満載です。
久石譲や坂本龍一などの日本の偉大な作曲家に並ぶソングライティングの才能と、RadioheadやWorld's End Girlfriendなどに通じるグルーヴ感、そしてSigur RósやKyteのような壮大な世界感を、ぜひ体験してください。
アルバムのアートワークはUKのイラストレーターEmmeline Pidgenが担当、マスタリングはNoble Labelの作品でもおなじみのエンジニア庄司広光です！
matryoshkaのCaluとのユニットRiLFでの活動を経て制作した、どこか懐かしさを感じる涙腺崩壊間違いなしの１枚です！

= Ricco Label

One of Japan's premier young composers, Takahiro Kido is no stranger to readers of The Silent Ballet. Kido has been enchanting listeners for years in various projects, including Anoice, Mokyow, Cru, and Rilf, but it may be his solo work that is the most impressive. Fleursy Music remains a standout album, and, by the sounds of it, Fairy Tale should quickly become a classic as well. Kido takes a variety of influences -- classical, jazz, ambient, electronica, folk, just to name a few -- and stirs up a concoction that is all his own. What follows is a grand experience, part cinematic and part daring, but always engaging the audience and providing a great soundtrack to life's many adventures. Complete with a revised version of Anoice's "Three Day Blow," Fairy Tale is a keeper.

= The Silent Ballet

You probably didn’t know that there is a niche for contemporary, classically based instrumental folk in Japan, but the scene is big and vibrant. Takahiro Kido’s Fairy Tale (July 20, Ricco Label) is a perfect entry to the genre, gently rolling between measured folktronica and triumphant, glimmering bliss.

= Utne Reader

To place a critical analysis of an album made by a Tokyo based artist in the context of the earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit Japan on the 11th of March this year may seem like an obvious, not to mention insensitive, angle to take, however considering Takahiro Kido's 'Fairy Tale' it is one that is almost unavoidable. Kido, the owner of Ricco Label, member of a wealth of genre-defying bands such as Anoice, Rilf and Mokyow and a respected solo musician in his own right, was one of the first from his homeland to offer music in the wake of the tragedy; the fantastic, and free, 'Hope' compilation that was not made available as a reaction to the disaster that claimed over 15,000 lives, but as a meditation on it. In true Japanese style it had a silent dignity and restraint, and yet it was also strikingly intimate; a selection of songs from his back catalogue that perfectly illustrated personal reflections of the incident.
'Fairy Tale' is the label's first offering since the events of the 11th of March, and it shares this intimacy. How much of the writing and recording process fell before and after it is not apparent, yet it is easy to see 'Fairy Tale' in this context, insofar as the atypical openness offered by both into a country typically seen as reserved and retreating, at least by those in the west.

Either way, 'Fairy Tale' is not only Takahiro's strongest release to date but one wrought with a gambit of emotions that far exceed the usual instrumental fodder; emotions that are at times both foreign and all too familiar. It sees him move further from the distant ambience of his earliest releases into a haze of electronica, neo-classical and post-rock that has almost become a signature sound of Japan, bearing similar hallmarks to the work of Worlds End Girlfriend, Motoro Faam, Aus, No.9 and countless others, whilst finding itself rooted in the contemplative compositions of Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Takahiro Kido is a master of finding the right balance between human emotion and technical perfection, ensuring his pieces have structure but do not suffer from the obtuse rigidity that many fellow artists of a similar ilk suffer from. 'Oranges and Lemons' blossoms from a sparse piano movement into a music-box waltz, with strings pirouetting behind it. It is reminiscent of Sigur Rós circa-Takk, rewritten for the score of an animated brothers Grimm story rather than a nature documentary.

Opener 'Prolouge' brings to mind Sigur Rós's country-mates Múm with its hushed, fractured beats whilst 'Lets Go Crazy!' erupts into a psychedelic landscape that wouldn't sound too far out of place in the hands of Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips. All of which gives way to 'The Three-Day Blow', originally an Anoice track completely re-imagined as the finale of 'Fairy Tale'. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful 'classical' pieces written this side of Henryk Gorecki, as well as the albums most expansive moment. Unfortunately, its beauty is presence in a stark simplicity that cannot be accurately summarised in words, as it slowly evolves from a snaking violin solo into a climax that transcends the typical post-rock quiet/loud schematic.

As Worlds End Girlfriend has before him with last years' 'Seven Idiots' here Takahiro Kido has released an album that fully realises his potential and incorporates the elements of an illustrious back-catalogue into something much more immediate and enjoyable.

= Jordan Dowling / contactmusic.com

2004年ポストロックバンドAnoiceのリーダー+コンポーザーとして音楽活動を開始。2006年同バンドで米インポータントレコードよりファーストアルバム"Remmings"で全世界デビュー。その後、３枚のアルバムをリリースしソニックユースやmonoなど多くのアーティストから高く評価され、欧米を中心に5万人以上のリスナー（last.fm調べ）を得る。ソロとしてはドイツのエレクトロチャートで８位を記録し、米音楽サイトThe Silent Balletで年間トップ10アルバムに選ばれたエレクトロニカアルバム"Fleursy Music"などの作品をPLOPから、坂本龍一やシルヴァン・ショーヴォーが絶賛したポストクラシカルアルバム"in my Time"などの作品をRicco Labelより発表している。また、タワーレコード企画のポストクラシカル曲コンピCD "Variations of Silence"などの様々なレーベルや企業のコンピレーションCDや、UKのPOSTやベルギーのGONZOなどのデザイン雑誌の企画に参加、東宝映画"ホノカアボーイ"などの映画や、GoogleやNTTなどの企業のCMや映像作品のサウンドトラック制作、伊勢丹やモスクワヴィレンナーレなどのイベントの楽曲制作を手がける。廃墟やトンネルなど野外を利用した楽曲制作を得意とする。またAnoiceの他にもRiLFやmokyowやcruといったユニットのメンバーとしても精力的な活動を行う。さらに音楽制作以外にもウェブ／プロダクトデザイナーやレコーディング／ミキシングエンジニア、Tommorrow Landのモデルなど、その活動は多岐にわたっている。

Takahiro Kidoのオフィシャルウェブサイトはこちら▶www.fleursy.com/takahirokido