Hitorie


Hitorie 2=ヒトリエ, sometimes stylized in all caps or lowercase, is a Japanese rock band formed in 2011 by lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter wowaka along with bassist Ygarshy and drummer Yumao under the name hitori atelier. Backing vocalist and fellow guitarist Shinoda joined in 2012, and the band renamed to its current name the same year.
They made their major debut under Sony Music Japan in 2014 with their single Senseless Wonder, which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was selected for FM802's heavy rotation, and released five studio albums: Wonder and Wonder, Deeper and Iki, and Howls, as well as three mini-albums: Imaginary Mono-Fiction, Mono-chrono Entrance, and ai/SOlate.
After a brief hiatus between 2019 and 2020, due to wowaka's passing, the band released the greatest hits album 4, and returned as a 3-piece with guitarist Shinoda as the lead vocalist. They have since released three albums: Reamp, Pharmacy, and Friend Chord. All their albums have charted on the Oricon Combined Albums Chart.
All of the band's members have also written and performed songs for other artists, such as Sakanamon, QU4RTZ, Suisoh, and Hiroshi Kamiya. As a band, they wrote the songs "Beauty For" and "Hōtā ni Saku", for Morfonica and Soraru, respectively, and collaborated with Balloon, and Ryushen, from Nijisanji.

Band members

Source:

Current members

  • Shinoda – vocal & guitar, lead guitar & backing vocals
  • * Joined in 2012.
  • * Also a vocaloid producer, under the pseudonym "Shoudouteki no Hito".
  • * In addition to his activities with Hitorie, he is also active on his solo project, under the name "cakebox", and was the guitarist of "JONNY", a rock band based in Nagoya.
  • * He is also skilled in creating artwork, contributing illustrations for band merchandise, and running a manga series on the web media platform "Meetia".
  • * Since 2019, he is now the band's vocalist, following wowaka's death. The idea of Shinoda continuing as the band's vocalist was proposed by ygarshy during a meeting. Initially, Shinoda felt hesitant and express his concerns. Shortly afterward, he received similar suggestions from several acquaintances via LINE. Adding to this, he experienced an unusual streak of luck, winning around 9 out of 10 prize draws at a FamilyMart lottery. This series of events led him to think, "Maybe I really am meant to be the one to sing."
  • * From October 20, 2023 to January 23, 2025, he performed a solo acoustic tour on all 47 prefectures, named "Shinotetsu".
  • ygarshy – bass, backing vocals
  • * Support bassist of "Wasureranneyo "
  • * Was active as the bassist of Touhou band "Sekken'ya ", and music unit "JUDGEMENT", alongside vocalist ichigo, from "Kishida Cult".
  • * He rarely speaks during live performance MCs. During wowaka's tenure, he was occasionally seen sucking on candy during shows, as the other three members tended to have lengthy discussions.
  • * He composed the song "Beautiful Moonlight" and was the bassist on the first single release of idol group QU4RTZ, "Sing & Smile!!" from the series Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.
  • Yumao – drums, backing vocals
  • * Support drummer of Pedro, also composed some songs.
  • * Was active in the band "yasashikute ", which disbanded in 2012.
  • * He also provides drum work for many artists, such as LiSA, natori, Ado, Jin, as well as his solo project Kagerou Project, and more.

    Previous members

  • wowaka – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
  • * Was the band's lead vocalist and songwriter. He is often nicknamed "leader". He died in his sleep on April 5, 2019, of acute heart failure.
  • * Originally under the alias "Escapism-P", originated by his first video description on NicoVideo, "In the Grey Zone".
  • * Considered by many to be one of the most influential vocaloid producers, he quickly grew in popularity after the release of his songs "Rolling Girl", "World's End Dancehall", and more. In 2011, he released his debut vocaloid album "Unhappy Refrain" under the label Balloom, which he co-founded, which rose to widespread acclaim. He wrote the lyrics and music for the single And I'm Home, which was the ending theme for the anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and also arranged "Summernoise Version" and "those dizzy days Version" of Secret Base which was the ending theme for the anime series Anohana. In the same year, he announced he was leaving the vocaloid scene to form a band.
  • * He was a close friend of musician Kenshi Yonezu, also a vocaloid producer, under the name of Hachi. After wowaka's death, Yonezu said that since his own music was also influenced by wowaka, he held his greatest respect for him.

    History

2011–2013: Indie debut

In an interview with Natalie, wowaka disclosed that after releasing "Unhappy Refrain", he became mentally exhausted and distanced himself from the scene to protect his well-being, feeling that the pressure for fame and success had overshadowed the authenticity of the music. He met Yumao and ygarshy online later that year and formed the band, previously named "hitori atelier". In 2012, Shinoda, an acquaintance of both ygarshy and Yumao, was invited to join. They met via Skype, and Shinoda joined the band, which was renamed to Hitorie.
In December, they released their first mini-album "Roomsick Girls Escape" independently at Comic Market 83.
On April 2013, they released their first EP "non-fiction four e.p." independently. Although an indie release, it reached over 10.000 copies sold. Later that month, they held their first one-man live named "hitori-escape" in Tokyo.
On November 4, they held their first sold-out show "hitori-escape:11:4 -Hinichijou Shibuya-hen- " at shibuya eggman. The same day, they announced their major debut under their own label, "Hinichijou Records", under the Sony Music umbrella.

2014–2015: Major debut and first album ''Wonder and Wonder''

On January 22, 2014, they released their first major single "Senseless Wonder", which played in radio stations all over Japan and was selected for FM802's heavy rotation.
Less than a month later, on February 19th, they announced their first mini-album after their major debut, titled "Imaginary Mono-Fiction".
In April, they performed a one-man tour in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, named "Mannequin in the Park", which sold out all venues, including the Ebisu LIQUIDROOM, one of the most popular live houses in Shibuya. They also participated in multiple rock festivals, such as the ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2014, WORLD HAPPINESS 2014 and RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL 2014 in EZO, gaining more support from fans throughout the country.
On November 26, they released their first full-length album Wonder and Wonder, which featured their debut single "Senseless Wonder". wowaka described the album as:
"I think that until now, I probably had some kind of ego in a bad sense of the word. I can say that now. But in a more pure sense, we have become a band with a one-of-a-kind coolness that only the four members of Hitorie can bring to the table. That is what I originally wanted to do. That's why I think this album has a cool, tingly, tense feeling as a band. In fact, the process of making it was quite stressful."
In December, they held their "WONDER and WANDER" tour, over 12 locations nationwide. In Tokyo, their performance at Akasaka Blitz was sold out.
On July 1, 2015, they released their 2nd mini-album Monochrome Entrance. As promotion for the album, all of wowaka's posts on social media, especially Instagram, were in black and white. This went from March 1st, to December 10th. On the same month, they held their one-man tour "Talkie Dance and Red Shoes", with an additional performance in Sendai. Various venues were sold out.
On November 4, they released their new single "Shutter Doll", and re-released their first 2 indie releases as "Roomsick Girls Escape / non-fiction four e.p." on streaming services. The release featured remasters of most of their old songs, as well as feature a re-recording of "Kara no Waremono", the first song to be written by wowaka for the band.

2016–2018: ''Deeper'', ''Iki'' and ''Ai/Solate''

On January 27, their 3rd single "One Me Two Hearts ", was released as the opening theme for the anime series "Divine Gate". It was Hitorie's first song to be featured in an anime series. The anime received mixed reviews by fans and critics alike, citing a convoluted story and disappointing adaptation. However, Hitorie's opening theme was praised by many for being memorable, even outside the anime's context.
On February 24, they released their 2nd full-length studio album Deeper. The cover art is from an art exhibition called "STILLSCAPE" by photographers Tetsuya Nagato and Taro Mizutani. In March, they started their one-man tour "one-Me Tour “DEEP/SEEK"", over 14 locations nationwide. The tour final was held at the Studio Coast in Shin-Kiba, and was very successful. On August 8th, they released their first live movie and album featuring the performance.
On November 1, they started their one-man tour "HITORI-SCAPE 2016 tour "5"" over 5 venues nationwide. On the 1st of December, they released their 3rd full-length studio album Iki, their 2nd full-length album release on the same year. A talk and autograph event to commemorate the release was held in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. The album's title, stylized in English, is based on the japanese word "生きる", which means "to live". It was previously named "Human". Tomoko Ariizumi of MUSICA, says:
"This album "IKI" is a work in which wowaka, after a long period of trial and error since he formed the band Hitorie, was finally able to fully liberate himself in his music, and finally give birth to a pure and true voice. This human liberation inevitably led to the full flowering of his potential as a musician and expressive artist."
A live album tour to commemorate the album's release, named "National one-man tour 2017 "IKI"", was performed in over 20 locations nationwide starting on January 27th 2017.
On August 22, 2017, wowaka released his final vocaloid song, "Unknown Mother-Goose" for Hatsune Miku's 10th anniversary compilation album Re:Start. A cover version by Hitorie featuring wowaka's vocals was released 2 months later, on October 22. The song was recorded with Hitorie on both versions, and wowaka sings the chorus on the original vocaloid version, while Miku can be heard on the Hitorie version.
On December 6, they released the mini-album Ai/Solate, featuring "Unknown Mother-Goose" as the lead single. The title is a double entendre, as it can be interpreted as "isolate" or "愛 so late". As promotion for the album, all tracks, excluding Unknown Mother-Goose, and "Zettaiteki ", had short music videos released by the members on social media. The first video released was for the song "NAI.", which was directed by Hidenobu Tanabe, who directed the music videos for "Kara no Waremono " and "One Me Two Hearts". The theme was "white". Tanabe's comment on the video:
"Immaculate purity. White, not yet soiled by any other pigment. Beautifully pure. Within that gleaming beauty lurks a swarm of moths. I tried to use the contras" of lurking moths upon an innocent smile to emphasize the idea of ‘white’."
The second video released was for the song "Loveless", during their national "IKI" tour, and was directed by Daisuke Shimada, who also directed the music videos for "Imperfection" and "Fuyu-no". The video's theme was simply "pink". Shimada's comment on the video:
"The color pink was the only prompt I received, so my initial inspiration was to use the hues of skin. With closeups on the tonality of the girl’s skin, and the combination of soft-colored flowers… The video turned quite feminine, yet still with a slightly bare and ominous aura to it."
The third video released was for the song "Namidme". The title is a play on words with the Japanese words "namida", and "ame". A literal translation would be "rain of tears". The video was recorded by "Ryuka-chan", which appeared on the album cover for "Monochrome Entrance" and the music video for "Talkie Dance". The video's theme, was described by Ryuka herself:
"I recorded low-key streetlights and the highway at midnight, to enhance a low-key setting."
The fourth and final video released was for the song "Social Clock". It was directed by Kakimoto Kensaku, who also directed the music video for "Little Cry Baby". The video's theme was "red". Kakimoto's comment on the video:
"In the present country we dwell, what is red, I ask. From nuclear power, the mass media, vested interest, to politics as a whole… Just thinking about it there’s no end. If you know it’s red and yet get too scared to voice how red it is, then at that point it’s already bright red. Every bit of imagery in this video was forged from layers of reds, so the act of releasing this video into the world is virtually red in itself. Red is an amass of energy, I think."
On January 17, 2018, Hitorie performed alongside Unison Square Garden on their two-man live "nexUs Vol.4" at Akasaka BLITZ. On the 28th, they started their "UNKNOWN-TOUR 2018 “Loveless"" in over 10 locations across the country. They also performed overseas for the first time, at additional performances in Taiwan and Shanghai. On October 4th, they started their first overseas tour, called "HITORI-ESCAPE in CHINA "RED HOT POT TOUR"".
On October 28, their fourth single "Polaris" was released as the seventh ending theme for the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. A month later, on November 28, the physical version was released with 2 additional songs. One of them was a new song, titled "River Fog, Chocolate Butterfly". The other, was Hitorie's cover of "Nichijou to Chikyuu no Gakubuchi", one of wowaka's vocaloid songs. Shinoda said in an interview that the song was one of his favorites and the one that he wanted to play live the most, however wowaka, exhausted from the release of "Unhappy Refrain", neglected the idea. After performing the song in rehearsals, wowaka felt compelled to record the song and include it on the single.