Kirinji -- Drifter

 

My growing knowledge of Kirinji（キリンジ）is still an ongoing project. Although it is currently just Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）minding the store, I remember when it was a full-fledged band not too long ago with some spacy upbeat delights and then much further back at the entry point of the 21st century, when it was simply the duo consisting of Takaki and his brother Yasuyuki（堀込泰行）giving out some of the most wonderful soulful ballads such as "Aliens".

Of course, I'm a huge fan of Kirinji, no matter the era and style of their music, and so is fellow contributor HRLE92. We communicated recently and he's been rather busy with his own academic pursuits but he was able to let me know of one of his favourites by the Horigomes, and that is the first song on their 8th single "Drifter/Taiyo to Venus"（太陽とヴィーナス...The Sun and Venus）, released in July 2001, not too long after "Aliens".

Written, composed and arranged by the Horigomes along with Keiichi Tomita's（冨田恵一）help on arrangement, "Drifter" starts off with a piano rhythm that feels like it's introducing a couple of old buddies in a retirement home going over old times, and then it slips into that familiar smooth blanket-swaddling Kirinji and Tomita balladry from their early years. From the title, I had initially assumed that it was about a lonely soul going through life, never sticking around one place or one person for long before moving on, but then looking at the lyrics, I realized that it was about a couple trying their best to hold onto each other during tempting turbulent times.

Reaching No. 43 on Oricon, the single's two main songs also ended up on Kirinji's November 2001 album "Fine".