Suiyōbi no Campanella

Formation

In 2011, Dir.F and Kenmochi first met at Design Festa Tokyo. As a label manager at Tsubasa Records, Dir.F wanted start a new music project with provisional female members, while Kenmochi intended to produce new music differing from his instrumental music after the 3.11 Disaster in Japan. The two decided to form a group and named the project ‘’Suiyōbi no Campanella’’. In 2012, Dir.F met KOM_I at their mutual videographer friend’s house party and invited her to join the group.

Career

The group uploaded its first songs, "Oz" and "Kukai", on YouTube in July 2012. Their first CD Suiyōbi no Campanella Demo 1 was sold at Design Festa Tokyo Autumn in November of the same year.

On 11 March 2013, KOM_I held her first live performances alone representing the group. It took place at Shimokitazawa ERA, a nightclub in Tokyo.

Their first mini album entitled Crawl to Saka Agari (Crawl and [Back hip circle] “クロールと逆上がり”) was released in May 2013. It was exclusively sold at Village Vanguard Shimokitazawa.

In September 2013, the group played the Ringo Ongakusai Festival, one of the group's many goals. KOM_I played several shows with “Ringo-ame Man”, an apple-candy-headed character. The following month, their second mini album Rashomon (羅生門) was released and sold exclusively at Tower Records.

In March 2014, the group's third mini album, Cinema Jack(“シネマジャック”), was released. The group conducted serial web interviews with online music store OTOTOY to promote the release of the album.

On 5 August 2014, the group premiered the lead single, "Momotaro", on J-WAVE, for their fourth mini album, Watashi wo Onigashima ni Tsuretette (私を鬼が島に連れてって, "Take me to Onigashima Island"), which was released on 5 November 2014 in die-cut CD edition.

In 2015, Suiyoubi no Campanella released their first EP, Triathlon. Unlike previous releases, all three songs on the EP were produced by a different producers: Kenmochi, OORUTAICHI and OBKR from N.O.R.K..

In March 2016, KOM_I announced that their next album would be released around June at their first American show at SXSW. The album entitled UMA, was released on 22 June 2016 under Warner Records.

Members

Name

The name Suiyōbi no Campanella is in reference to their usual meeting day of Suiyōbi (Wednesday), and its mixing of Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana was primarily to appeal to the group's collective ego. For their SXSW gig in the US, Suiyoubi no Campanella performed under their English moniker, "Wednesday Campanella".

Live Performances

KOM_I appears alone on stage, at events and at promotional occasions. She took karaoke-style live. Kenmochi and Dir.F thought men were undesirable for the group to appear on stage when they discussed some Japanese duet groups.

Music

Kenmochi is mainly in charge of music production, composing, arranging, and song writing. The concept of the group that Kenmochi and Dir.F had in the early years was a folklore-style Perfume. Each song contains certain themes referring to historical events, great people, or moments in popular culture. Kenmochi's lyrics feature deep meanings, but are generally taken as nonsensical.

KOM_I had no prior music experience until she joined the group. She was chosen as a vocalist because Kenmochi liked the mismatch between her voice and the hip-hop music he was producing. Previously KOM_I only acted as the group's vocalist, but she began to participate in the production process with Rashomon.

Albums

Extended Play

Cover Album

Compilation