[Cover image: L-R: sindee, Netako Nekota, Yuuki Hayashi, and Daijiro Nakagawa, photo credit to Shoko Ishizaki]
Japanese Progressive Pop, Indie Rock band Jyocho is set to release their new full-length album, Let’s Promise to Be Happy, along with a live concert DVD, on February 16th via No Big Deal Records. The new album will be made available digitally worldwide, but a CD + DVD set will be available as a Japan only exclusive.
Marking the sixth release and first in three years from the Kyoto, Japan-based band, the new eight-track project was written and produced by founding member Daijiro Nakagawa and recorded in Japan at StudioSHIKARI and Studio 246 KYOTO. The quartet, Daijiro (guitar/chorus), Netako Nekota (vocals/keyboard), sindee (bass), and Yuuki Hayashi (flute), have released an album sampler Produced by graphic designer and photo manipulator ISAMYU, who is also credited for designing the cover art for the new album.
In August 2021, the band announced the song from the new album “All the Same” would be the ending theme song for the Japanese TV anime series, Banished From the Brave Man’s Group, I Decided to Lead a Slow Life in the Back Country, which was introduced at New York Comic Con in October and started airing that same month.
Regarding Let’s Promise to Be Happy, Daijiro shares:
The new album is our most direct and intuitive work to date. The music on this release was influenced and revolved around the question, ‘Do we really want to be happy?’ For this new project, we started with our first album in mind, from a macroscopic perspective, and ended up with this album, which is a microscopic piece. As we seek happiness, things that are not happy are born within us. It is difficult to keep happiness in the same place for a long time. In order to keep it circulating, we have to bear and face the happiness and sorrow of others. I wonder if humanity is happy now.
In celebration of the new album release, Jyocho will be putting on two performances in Japan: March 5th at Live House Anima in Osaka and March 27th at Shinjuku MARZ in Tokyo.
