Biography
Formed in 1997 at Tokyo's Aoyama Gakuin University by longtime friends singer/guitarist Kumi and guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Naoki Sato, the pair issued several independent releases over the next couple of years until Japanese imprint Victory offered them a contract in 1999. Their first full-length, the 2001 album The Greatest Hits, featured the tracks "Lady Madonna/Yuutsu Naru Spider," "Your Song," and "Last Smile," and the record's '60s- and '70s-influenced J-pop quickly drew notice at home, securing the band an appearance at Japan Nite during the 2001 SXSW Festival. Although Kumi followed the common Japanese practice of blending her native language with English, her childhood years in the States enabled her to craft clear, substantive verses in both tongues; that approach carried over to the duo's second effort, Love Psychedelico Orchestra, issued domestically in 2002 and stateside the next year. Love Psychedelico III arrived in 2004, at which point the act was known locally as Delico, and the compilation Early Times appeared twelve months later.