I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2024] Isiliel

Seven months ago, I spontaneously bought a ticket to see Isiliel at PhilaMOCA.  The show was weird but fun.

I’m going to repost (almost my entire review from that show and then add some details for this one:

So, who is Isiliel?  She is Himari Tsukishiro who is the main singer in the Japanese band Necronomidol.  As her site puts it

Isiliel is a solo dance/vocal project by Himari Tsukishiro (NECRONOMIDOL).
Mixing genres as diverse as folk, blackgaze and city pop via a worldwide team of veteran songwriters such as King Dude and NARASAKI of COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS, through Isiliel Himari will express hitherto unexplored depths of pathos and beauty on stage.

As Isiliel, she has one album out.  It is, as implied, a heavy metal sounding album, with heavy guitars and a lot of double bass.  But she does not sing like a heavy metal singer.  Her delivery is quiet and slow (and it’s in Japanese).

I hadn’t heard of either her or her main band until about a week before this show was announced.  But when I saw what Necronomidol looked like, I wanted to go to this show too.  It turned out she has some real fans in Philly.  The audience was probably about 30 people, but the show had about a week’s notice.  And several of these fans brought identical small red lanterns which they waved in time to the beat (I asked the merch guy if he was selling them and he said no–they brought them in!)

She wasn’t in corpse paint (like the other band), rather she was dressed much like she is on the album–a midriff baring top (with a metal breastplate) and short skirt.  Her hair is crazy long.

When the music started she began dancing.  It was sweet and a little weird–it reminded me a but of when my daughter was little and she would make up dances that seemed to fit with the music.

I was charmed and sort of amazed that she felt confident enough to stand up there doing this.

Every three songs or so, she talked to us, telling us she was happy to be in Philadelphia.  Her English is poor, but she got the basics of her story across and everyone was super supportive.

And then she sang and her voice sounded great.

So basically, it was like karaoke, but to her own music.  The album was loud enough, and her voice was mixed quite well.  Although in playback recordings, she sounds flat which I swear she didn’t when I was there…

…

This time, I was a little more aware that she was flat sometimes.  It’s odd because she can clearly sing and her voice is really impressive.  It must be kind of hard to sing to a karaoke version of your own stuff especially if the music is not in your ear (she did not wear an earpiece).  But the flatness was never on the high notes, it was on the middle notes–maybe there’s a backing vocal line on the record that makes it a harmony so it doesn’t comes across as flat on record?  I’m not sure.  And, indeed it didn’t happen often, just on certain notes.

But it was still a fun time.  Some of  the same people who were  there last time were there this time (a little girl and her dad–last time the girl was nervous about getting close, but this time, the girl was right up front).

People were there with lights like last time. And the general mood was one of happiness and good times.

She played almost the exact same set as last time–most of the Moonglow Genesis album, but she played perhaps her catchiest song Lilith first.  She also played the one song from the album that didn’t get played last time, Seiha Sougyou.  And she played two even newer songs, the heavy Qliphoth (with a great harmony-filled chorus) and the really dancey pinky promise.

During pinky she came out into the audience and fist bumped every single person, which was really sweet.

Last time there was no opening act so we were done by 9:30.  This time, we were entertained until 10:30.  I didn’t stick around to see if she was autographing stuff because I had tickets to see Ted Leo & Pharmacists right across the street and I knew I’d be able to make some of the set.

I’m very curious about how the other people there found out about her or hat they liked about her.  Maybe next time I’ll start asking questions.

 

2024	2023
Lilith *	Koumyou Kishi ⊄  光明生死
Koumyou Kishi ⊄  光明生死	Geshoku Senka ⊄  月蝕戦歌
Geshoku Senka ⊄  月蝕戦歌	Jodo Dokushou ⊄ 浄土独唱
Jodo Dokushou ⊄ 浄土独唱	Seian Kengen ⊄ 聖暗顕現
Seian Kengen ⊄ 聖暗顕現	Keisei Densetsu ⊄ 景星伝説
Keisei Densetsu ⊄ 景星伝説	Kikoku Enbu ⊄ 鬼哭演舞
Seiha Sougyou ⊄ 制覇早暁	Lilith *
Qliphoth §	Enen Futou ⊄ 奄奄不撓
Sange Ittai ⊄ 散華一体	Sange Ittai ⊄ 散華一体
Genesis ⊄	Genesis ⊄
pinky promise	Seizon Senryaku $ 生​存​戦​略

§ single (2024)
* single (2023)
⊄ Moonglow Genesis (2023)
$ single (2022)