Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana

Album Cover

Artist

Shiina Ringo

Album

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana (加爾基　精液　栗ノ花; Lime Semen Chestnut Flower)

Released

2003.02.23 (Copy Control)

2008.07.02 (Reissue)

Catalog Number

TOCT-24942 (Copy Control)

TOCT-26578 (Reissue)

Price

¥3,059

Tracklist

1. Shuukyou (宗教; Religion)
2. Doppelgänger (ドッペルゲンガー)
3. Meisai (迷彩; Camouflage)
4. Odaiji ni (おだいじに; Please Take Care)
5. Yattsuke Shigoto (やっつけ仕事; Rush Job)
6. Kuki (茎; Stem)
7. Torikoshi Gurou (とりこし苦労; Worrying Unnecessarily)
8. Okonomi de (おこのみで; As You Wish)
9. Ishiki (意識; Consciously)
10. Poltergeist (ポルターガイスト; Poltergeists)
11. Souretsu (葬列; Funeral)
12. Ichijiku no Hana (映日紅の花（いちじくのはな; Fig Flower) (vinyl bonus track)

Information

"Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana" is the third studio album by Shiina Ringo. The initial pressings of the album was released with Copy Control and included a sticker, with a message written by Shiina herself. Three months later, the album was released on Vinyl. The album reached #1 in the Oricon weekly charts and charted for 20 weeks. Because the album sold 409,000 units, it became the #28 album of 2003 in Japan. The album also reached #28 on the World Album Charts and managed to chart for two weeks.

Art Direction & Symmetry

All of the lyrics are written in an ancient Japanese style. Everything about the album seems to be perfected and in a Japanese way, from the CD booklet being read from right to left and (usually only seen in Enka CDs), to the track numbering being labeled in formal kanji script usually only seen in legal documents (壱、弐、参、肆、伍、陸、漆、捌、玖、拾、拾壱). Shiina continues her tradition of symmetry from her previous studio album "Shouso Strip" with more emphasis; besides the album length (44:44) and song titles following a symmetrical pattern, the tracks themselves symmetrically relate to one another at opposite ends of the album, as follows:

• "Shuukyou" (1) and "Souretsu" (11) - Both start with an 'S', and relate to religion. Shiina also sings in the same manner for these songs. The same orchestra, the Kuri no Hana Kahoru Orchestra (栗ノ花薫オーケストラ; Orchestra Scented with Chestnut Flowers) was used for both the songs, and were conducted by Gotou Yuuichirou (後藤勇一郎), the violinist/composer of the band The Dynamites. Despite their titles, the lyrical themes in "Shuukyou" refer to death, while "Souretsu" refers to birth and rebirth.

• "Doppelgänger" (2) and Poltergeist (10) - Both are about the supernatural. As above, the Kuri no Hana Kahoru Orchestra was used as the backing band. Both tracks have titles in Katakana with the same number of characters. Both titles are words borrowed from German.

• "Meisai" (3) and "Ishiki" (9) - Both were found on the Stem ~Daimyou Asobi Hen~ single, in the same order around "Stem". The same band was used for both these tracks, which was a temporary Shiina Ringo band called Himitsu Butai (秘密部隊), with Shiina Ringo as the conductor. Lyrically, each of these songs reference each other; the song "Meisai" mentions the word 'ishiki' and while "Ishiki" does not mention the word 'meisai' specifically, the English meaning, "camouflage", is sung in katakana.

• "Odaiji ni" (4) and "Okonomi de" (8) - Both start with the honorific prefix 'o', with a particle at the end, spelled all in Hiragana. The same instruments/background musicians are used for these two songs.

• "Yattsuke Shigoto" (5) and "Torikoshi Kurou" (7) - No apparent similarities between these two songs other than having exactly the same kana/kanji structure (Four kana followed by two kanji) and perhaps that they are the most experimental and unusual songs from the album in terms of composition. There is most likely a special meaning for Shiina in these two songs that is not known about by the public.

• Kuki (6) - Standing alone in the center, it was the only single from the album; however, the album version is identical to the version released on the soundtrack to the film CASSHERN, with this version sung in Japanese.

External Links

• Oricon Profile
• Jrawk Review