Well, I managed to find a City Pop song by an M. Kikuchi but the lass here isn't the one that you City Pop fans might be assuming. Nope, it's not Momoko.
Actually, this is Mami Kikuchi（菊地真美）, and once again, this is one of those people whose profile from the days of her singing is hard to track down. I had to look through a few sources just to gather some of the crumbs of information that I could glean.
But first off, "Neo Silk Road" is a track from her 1982 album "Morning Dew". Written by Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）and composed by Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）, it has that funky guitar and cool trumpet leading the way and then Kikuchi's light yet resonant vocals trip the light fantastic through the lyrics. I also like the harmony in the backing vocals. The two slightly odd things, though, are the crack of thunder near the beginning and then Kikuchi leaving the melodic interchange for a few seconds to whimsically repeat the title before getting back to the on ramp as the song approaches its end.
From one Yahoo blog, I found out that Kikuchi had released a single back in 1980, "Heart Beat" which was apparently more of a Blondie-esque New Wave tune. Plus, that song had also been composed by Soryo. And on the website for an online record store, her debut album from earlier in 1982 was "Shimauma ni Notta Secretary"（縞馬に乗ったセクレタリー ...The Secretary who Rode a Zebra）.
Finally, she went to America to study music and participated in reporting and other media-related activities according to the website for Will-B International Inc. which apparently specializes in providing bilingual emcees (such as herself) and narrating services. After returning to Japan, Kikuchi made her debut as a newscaster and has appeared on TV Asahi and NHK. At the link, you can also see a YouTube introduction of herself in Japanese and English.
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