Maaya Sakamoto’s 11th Album Kioku no Toshokan Will Launch on May 31

April 4, 2023

Veteran Japanese singer, songwriter, and voice actress Maaya Sakamoto has revealed that her 11th full-length album, Kioku no Toshokan, will be released on May 31.

The press release describes this work as a conceptual follow-up to her previous Kyou Dake no Ongaku album. It will include eight newly recorded songs based on Sakamoto’s original story, which is described as:

The Kioku no Toshokan (Library of Memory) is a worldwide repository of people’s memories. Acting on an impulse, a boy who collects discarded memories returns some of the memory boxes to the windows of their owners. What kind of music overflows when they open them?

Aside from the original songs, the album will include four tie-up songs, including “Sumire” (Deaimon opening),”Kotoba ni Dekinai” (Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 ending),”Mada Tooku ni Iru” (The Fire Hunter ending); and “un_mute”(Revenger theme song). The album’s Limited First Edition of the album will come with a Blu-ray disc that has the music videos for “Sumire,” “Mada Tooku ni Iru,” and “un_mute.”

Kyou Dake no Ongaku also boasts a line-up of creators that includes Yu Arauchi (cero), Yuho Iwasato, Daisuke Kawaguchi, Shigeru Kishida (Quruli), Katsutoshi Kitagawa (ROUND TABLE), Shohei Koga (yourness), Shintaro Sakamoto, Anna Takeuchi, Kohei Dojima, tricot, and hiyune (chilldspot).

In addition, a new artist photo, cover photo, and a TV commercial featuring the lead song “Naimononedari” were released to accompany the album announcement.

Sakamoto’s first album, Grapefruit, was released in 1997. The year before, she released her first single, “Yakusoku wa Iranai,; which was the opening theme for The Vision of Escaflowne (the show where she played heroine Hitomi Kanzaki, also marked her TV anime voice acting debut).

In 2013, Sakamoto released Singer-Songwriter, the first album in which she wrote all the music. Kyou Dake no Ongaku was released in 2019.