I like symphonic metal so it's no surprise, I suppose, that I also like non-metal symphonic goth

[cimorene]

My beloved music-pimp aeslis sent me the whole album from Japanese symphonic-goth cellist 分島 花音 (Wakeshima Kanon) (I checked the kanji and she actually *is* named after Chinese goddess/bodhisattva of mercy Guanyin (No, she's totally not, it's just similar and I couldn't detect the difference in the character at the relatively tiny default text size.) But I do still wish I were named after a goddess). She's a classically trained cellist who writes her own melodramatic classical/gothy music and sings in an appropriately Symphonic Metal-like style. This is my favorite song from the album, 砂のお城 (Suna no Oshiro), which is apparently a theme from an anime called Vampire Knight. You can ignore her rather ridiculous Gothic Lolita garb and the cupcake on her head... or you can LOL, either way is fine by me.

Comments

[torachan]

Actually Kannon is written 観音 and has two Ns (かんのん vs　かのん).

[legens-legentis.livejournal.com]

Ahh Kanon Wakeshima. I think although she writes her lyrics, and she may work on the cello compositions, I know Mana (of Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois fame) produced her singles and did the background music.

If you're interested there's extensive information on her here (http://www.scapeforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4754) and here (http://www.scapeforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4829). Kind of disorganized because it's a forum, but one of the better sources I know on her.

[cimorene]

My impression is that it's fairly normal for producers to do that sort of thing. I took a line in the bio at lastfm ("She began writing her own music towards the end of middle school") to imply that she wrote music, but perhaps it was misleading. In any case, I'm not especially invested in the question, either way. :)

[cimorene]

Oh! Damn, those characters totally looked the same at my tiny text-size (of course, flipping between tabs, not side-by-side), but when I make it bigger the difference looks obvious. Oops. Thanks!

[legens-legentis.livejournal.com]

Oh she definitely writes her own music, Mana just wrote her singles. I'm sure once she has a few more under her belt they'll let her release her own songs, but considering that she's being promoted more like an idol than an independent musician she won't get that sort of freedom until she shows more success. Attaching Mana's name to her first two singles really helped to promote her, and perhaps even landed her the OST.

[cimorene]

Makes sense.

[takemyrevolution]

I... uh... that... guh.

I have no words. Thank you for posting this. I'm going to go fangirl now.

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