Contemporary avant-rock duo KIRINJI (キリンジ) formed in October 1996, in Tokyo… Read Full Bio ↴Contemporary avant-rock duo KIRINJI (キリンジ) formed in October 1996, in Tokyo, Japan when brothers Takaki Horigome (堀込高樹, born June 1, 1969) and Yasuyuki Horigome (堀込泰行, born May 2, 1972) started writing songs together. It did not take much time for their melodies to capture much of attention and respect from surrounding artists and audience. They soon successfully established themselves in the limelight of the J-pop scene, as their self-titled debut album "KIRINJI" released indie in 1997. They made their major debut in 1998 with Warner Music Japan.Their 3rd album "3" (released in 2000) which included 'Aliens' and was a smash hit in Japan. In 2003 they transferred to the record company TOSHIBA EMI, and in November of the same year, the duo embarked on a 7-city-nationwide tour, including the Budokan in Tokyo.

Kirinji switched labels again in 2005 to Columbia Music Entertainment. From there, the brothers began to work on solo projects; Yasuyuki made his solo debut as 馬の骨 (Uma no Hone) in June, followed by Takaki releasing his solo album in November.

In April 2013, Yasuyuki left the band. Takaki assembled a number of musicians from other bands to continue the project: Hitoshi Kusunoki (楠均, drums), Manabu Chigasaki (千ヶ崎学, bass/synth bass/vocal), Gen'ichi Tamura (田村玄一, steel guitar/steel pan/guitar/vocal), Erino Yumiki (弓木英梨乃, vocal/guitar/violin), and Kotringo (コトリンゴ, vocal/piano/keyboard). The band switched labels once again to Verve in summer 2014. Together they released an album in August of that year titled "11" and went on a national tour from September through November.