Former Thee Michelle Gun Elephant frontman Yusuke Chiba‘s current solo project, SNAKE ON THE BEACH, is set to release a studio album called Shiosai later this year.
The album will be the Japanese rocker’s first new album under the moniker in seven years. Shiosai (“Sound of the Surf”) will contain 17 tracks selected from more than 50 songs he wrote during those years, and is quite literally a “solo” project in that he played all the instruments and arranged the tracks mostly by himself; the only outside help he got was from longtime collaborator Kenji Fujii on guitar for the sixth track on the set, “Tokyo.”
The DVD paired with the release will contain image videos for all the songs, structured around photos shot by Chiba himself, and his commentaries on each track. Shiosai will drop Nov. 27.
The J-rock icon recently collaborated with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra on their anthem for WOWOW’s Spain soccer program, “¡Dale Dale! feat. Yusuke Chiba,” and a song they worked on in the past called “Kanariya Naku Sora” (“The Sky Where the Canary Sings”) is in the spotlight again as the theme song for director Mika Ninagawa’s upcoming movie Ningen Shikkaku, starring Shun Oguri as the renowned early 20th century Japanese novelist Osamu Dazai.