Ling tosite sigure

Japanese indie rock outfit Ling Tosite Sigure—also rendered as Rin Toshite Shigure under standard Hepburn romanization—crafts intricate post-hardcore laced with alt-prog touches. The group excels at weaving rapid tempo shifts and emo-style screams from its male and female singers into memorable melodies that carry potent emotional weight, all while landing on the Oricon charts despite its labyrinthine compositions. Saitama served as the birthplace in 2002, when guitarist/vocalist TK (Toru Kitajima), longtime associate of Art-School’s Masafumi Todaka, teamed with bassist/vocalist Miyoko Nakamura (performing under the alias 345). Drummer Pierre Nakano, born Masatoshi Nakano, arrived shortly afterward, enabling the trio to begin live performances. Between 2003 and 2004 the band issued four self-released demos titled #1, #2, #3, and Tosite. In 2005 it unveiled its first full-length, #4, on the independent Nakano Records imprint and supported the effort with an extensive domestic tour, the initial entry in a long series of such treks. The EP Feeling Your UFO appeared the following year. Inspiration Is Dead, the second album, arrived in 2007, coinciding with the group’s appearance at the Countdown festival.

Live activity intensified thereafter. Throughout 2008 the band regularly shared bills with Sparta Locals, Mo’some Tonebender, and the Back Horn, embarked on co-headlining runs with Go! Go! 7188 and 9mm Parabellum Bullet, performed at both Fuji Rock and Rising Sun, and mounted its own nationwide “Fighting G” shows—named after Nakano’s hemorrhoid troubles. That same year Ling Tosite Sigure cut the single “Telecastic Fake Show,” its final independent release. Sony subsequently signed the act, which debuted on a major label with the 2008 single “Moment a Rhythm.” The third album, Just a Moment, followed in 2009 and reached the Oricon Top Ten. Shortly after its release the musicians traveled to the UK for their first overseas concerts in London and Brighton. Still a Sigure Virgin? emerged in 2010, after which the group entered a period of reduced activity. TK issued his solo debut, Flowering, in mid-2012, yet by year’s end Ling Tosite Sigure returned with the single “Abnormalize,” adopted as the opening theme for the anime Psycho-Pass. The fifth album, I’mperfect, surfaced in 2013, peaking at number three on the Oricon chart and marking the band’s first domestic release licensed abroad when the UK’s JPU label—previously home to The Gazette’s Division—made it available internationally.