Nichika - Nichika (18 August 2008)

Nichika is was the duo of musician Nomura Youichirou and vocalist Miyamoto Issui. Each were in the early stages of pursuing solo careers when, in 2005, Issui’s label commissioned Youichirou to compose a song for her. The two quickly began to collaborate on more songs and decided to create Nichika instead of continuing with their solo efforts. Unfortunately Nichika’s career was brief. Between 2007 and 2009 they released four singles and only one album, the eponymous Nichika (lit. “Two-Thousand Flowers”). And then disbanded.

This album is one of my favorites from the last decade, and one which I feel like many people missed because Nichika never made a large splash in the media. They did have a tie-in with the anime short-film compilation Genius Party but still flew under the radar of most.