There is an incredible number of February birthdays, so what about works of art? This is No Skips, where we go through records deserving of their high praise and conclude whether they have any skippable tracks or not. I bring up the point about February birthdays not only because it’s the month of love, but since this album by Japanese singer Ringo Sheena — or Sheena Ringo depending on who you ask — breathes so much life and is clearly a labor of love.
Sheena has contributed to roughly a dozen groups of musicians throughout her career, yet she has been most prolific under her solo moniker. “Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana,” or “Kalk Samen Chestnut Flower,” is an incredible piece of work that, as of writing, debuted exactly 22 years ago. The scary thing is that it’s aged so eerily well that it could’ve been released today and still wow listeners.
The cover portrays an unassuming teacup that provides not a single inkling of what’s in store. The 44-minute and 44-second album begins with “Religion,” which I’m sure alludes to religion in some ways, but this review will omit any lyrical analysis due to the language barrier. There is plenty to unpack sonically, however.
The song’s introduction begins with the insanity of a symphony before we get to hear Sheena. The vocal manipulations on here sound like what Rick Rubin and rock band The Mars Volta would do on “De-Loused in the Comatorium” later in 2003 as if she’s underwater or in a cave. Then, the blown-out drums and electric guitars give the sound of J-rock, only for angelic violins to soar along with Sheena’s vocals. This is all in the first minute. This formula repeats until the final minute and a half when things de-escalate, yet this perfection somehow is matched by the next song.
My Spotify shuffle shoveled “Doppelganger” down my throat so much in 2023 that it became one of my most played tracks, and while I’m often opposed to the not-so-randomness of the shuffle feature, I wasn’t complaining in this case. The Mellotron and vocals from Sheena — interspersed with other sounds — are the basis of the first minute until the song’s high-octane chorus is hinted at. The buildup toward vocal clarity heightens expectations, resulting in a weird blend between World’s End Girlfriend and Sweet Trip’s “Velocity : Design : Comfort,” also from 2003.
A strange jam session greets the listener on “Camouflage,” with crazy basslines and Sheena’s most confident vocals yet. The violin player is off doing their own thing to match her energy, possibly because many instrumental tracks were recorded separately to eventually culminate into the final mix. These instruments compete in volume after two-and-a-half minutes before the composition fizzles out again. I enjoy how complete each track feels from start to finish, though on a full listen, the energy doesn’t need to stop.
“Please Take Care,” surprisingly not the outro track, features harmonizing complemented by electric guitars, serving as the equivalent to the ending of Ye’s “Runaway” off “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Apart from the first minute of vacuum cleaning, “Rush Job” is a certified banger right out of Nintendo’s sound palette for the “Super Mario” series, complete with whistling, organ and brass.
“Stem,” the sole single off the album, features a foreboding beginning with what sounds like marching before strings clear the mood up. The entire song structure calls back to the intro track, offering a symphony in four minutes, complete with the classic tone shift on many J-pop songs.
“Needless Worry” implements beatboxing like Björk would do on “Medúlla” in 2004, yet Sheena herself uses a dozen instruments, including her voice, to give the short tune a reason to stand out on the loaded tracklist.
“As You Wish” is the album’s longest song at nearly six minutes. The chorus has pure vibes before a lady’s voice is filtered like a flight attendant, and while her accent is Japanese, she provides some of the only English vocals on the record. The song follows both structure and technique from “Stem,” as the key of the whole composition changes in the final two minutes; I’d argue it’s worth the wait.
Something I didn’t notice until now is the breathing machine and the alien sound environment in the first minute of “Consciousness,” aligning with the song’s title. At this point, the cycle of commenting about how these songs start and stop could be a knock toward Sheena or the album, but it proves how regimented and premeditated each moment on “Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana” is. The flute is the star of the show along with Sheena, who sings less aggressively than the J-rock instrumentation, lending an interesting dichotomy of tone.
“Poltergeist” uses some sort of metronome to keep listeners on their toes, as well as swelling and contracting strings, mimicking the innocence of shibuya-kei group Serani Poji without the electronic influences. “Funeral” may reference what playing the song at a high volume will do to your ears. It starts off weirdly, but it’s about what you’d expect from Sheena at this point, until the distorted rock instruments bastardize the desert-like aesthetic of the prior part. Organ and harmonized vocals coagulate with the song’s rock basis to nearly transform into a wall of sound, increasing in volume until the final moments of the album where the music f cuts out.
Describing “Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana” in words is quite the undertaking, and that was without touching the lyrics. If you’re reluctant to try music outside of your native language, this may not the most accessible first venture, but find something from Ringo Sheena and work your way up to this record. You’ll be happy you did.