Hear Wednesday Campanella’s vibrant record, ‘Neon’, their first with new vocalist Utaha

Japanese pop group Wednesday Campanella have released a new EP, ‘Neon’, which marks the recorded debut of vocalist Utaha.

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Released on Wednesday (May 25), the eight-track project marks the first full-length recording with new lead singer, Utaha, since the departure of founding vocalist KOM_I last year.

Wednesday Campanella have also dropped a lavish visual for the album’s second track, ‘Himiko’, directed by Koshun Mamiya from collective YUKIKAZE.

Over a colourful future bass beat, Utaha sings about the weather on ‘Himiko’: “The shrine maiden weathercaster / Highly reviewed!,” she sings in Japanese. In line with the track’s themes, the video depicts Utaha delivering the song in a room full of succulents and plants, and presenting a weather report on a fictitious TV station.

The video for ‘Himiko’ follows visuals for previous singles ‘Edison’ and ‘Maneki Neko’, which were released in February. On top of those two tracks, the tracklist of ‘Neon’ also includes the 2021 singles ‘Alice’ and ‘Buckingham’, which marked Utaha’s first official releases since joining Wednesday Campanella.

Listen to ‘Neon’ here:

To mark the release of the record, Wednesday Campanella will embark on a nine-date Japanese tour titled ‘Neopoem’. The tour begins June 22 in Yokohama, before culminating in an August 3 date at renowned Ebisu club Liquid Room. More details of the tour can be found here.

Wednesday Campanella currently consist of vocalist Utaha, producer Hidefumi Kenmochi and music video director, Dir. F. Founding vocalist KOM_I left the J-pop unit in September 2021 to pursue solo activities. Up to that point, the unit had released eight full-lengths, including 2016’s ‘Zipang’, 2017’s ‘Superman’, and 2019’s ‘Yakushima Treasure’ a collaboration with experimental musician Oorutaichi.

Wednesday Campanella notably collaborated with CHVRCHES in 2018 for the single ‘Out of My Head’, as well as with Porter Robinson on the track ‘Halfmoon Lullaby’, which was released as a Japan-exclusive track for the producer’s 2021 record, ‘Nurture’.

In 2017, Wednesday Campanella performed across a slew of Asian and international festivals, including Singapore’s edition of St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Hong Kong’s Clockenflap, and Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw.

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