“It’s a big thing coming,” Marina Sakimoto sings in the lead single off her first record in 6 years. And a big thing is coming indeed because Shunkan, the LA-based rock project of Sakimoto, is excited to announce her third studio album, Kamikaze Girl, out May 6 via Houston’s tastemaking Rite Field Records. Recorded last year in Joshua Tree, CA and produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab for Cutie, Melvins, The Mountain Goats), the incoming record inspects how to put things back together after falling apart. Heralding the announcement is ‘Hellbound,’ a hazy, melancholic track that expects the worst and wants the best. Grounded by Sakimoto’s honeyed vocals, brightly toned guitar riffs reverberate like late-night memories and desire-driven mistakes.
“I like ‘Hellbound’ as the first track of the album because it feels like the initial descent into a transformative period for me,” says Sakimoto. “There’s that space in your life where you start sensing something (or someone) may not be the best for you, but the allure of it keeps you around because… what else do you have to lose? Nihilism—mixed with a lost sense of identity—is one hell of a drug. Sonically, I wanted this track to reflect what I was listening to at the time, which started with revisiting the ‘Lost in Translation’ soundtrack while I was in Japan.”
Shunkan signed to Rite Field Records last fall and quickly mapped out her first full-length offering since 2019’s Cumberland Falls. Sakimoto first debuted the project in 2014 with her first EP, Honey, Milk and Blood. Shunkan’s critically acclaimed first LP The Pink Noise, arrived in 2014 with fan favorite tracks, ‘Garden’ and ‘S.A.D.’ This year will mark the release of her most refined and introspective album yet, Kamikaze Girl.
Kamikaze Girl:
- Hellbound
- Sidekick
- Usual Suspects
- INALYNAF
- Frogtown
- I Did My Part Today
- Arm’s Length
- Talk Is Cheap
- Prettier
- Gilligan’s Island
