New solo EP: Artifacts from the Labyrinth
Just released on Bandcamp: Kitamura’s new solo EP Artifacts from the Labyrinth.
Eight years after Protean Labyrinth (2018) and fifteen years since her solo debut Armadillo in Sunset Park (2011), Kyoko Kitamura returns with her new solo work Artifacts from the Labyrinth, an imaginary audio-capsule recovered from an underground labyrinth. Full album only on Bandcamp.
The instrumentation is a collection of tactile relics: a hand-cranked music box, the rhythmic snap and swirl of Hanafuda playing cards, the resonance of glass bottles, cans, stones, buttons, semi-modular analog synth, and a piano—all played by Kitamura herself and woven together with her signature “speak-song” vocals.
From the ritualistic spirit-journey of “Head Down into the Waves” to the shimmering uncertainty of “Fragmentary Blue,” the music captures fleeting moments of human life and emotions. Hints of what may have occurred are voiced in the hauntingly calm, bilingual reportage of “Wormhole.” This is a mini-album for the times, a mixtape of dystopian art songs. It questions the “risk society” we live in: Do we even matter? What can we do today to change the outcome for tomorrow? What are we leaving behind for the next generation?
The cover art features Kitamura’s photography of the actual objects used in the recording, edited and modified by Nano Banana 2.
Artifacts from the Labyrinth will be released under a Creative Commons License (BY). Kitamura invites listeners not just to hear these sounds, but to use, remix, and reimagine them for any purpose, provided credit is given.
Track Listing
- This is an Emergency / Head Down into the Waves / Wormhole
- Three Bottles and a Piano
- Matter I / Matter II
- Broken Music Box
- Interlude
- East River isn’t a Real River
- Fragmentary Blue
Credits
- Kyoko Kitamura: All compositions, voice, piano, BASTL Softpop 1, Hanafuda cards, can, stone, buttons, hand-cranked music box, glass bottles.
- Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jon Rosenberg.
- Recorded at Scholes Street Studio on January 30, 2026.
- Cover art: Kyoko Kitamura (photography of objects) and Nano Banana 2 (digital editing and integration).
Liner Note on Samples: This recording incorporates self‑sampled material from Kitamura’s prior releases. Track 8 contains a sample from the album Protean Labyrinth, performed by Ken Filiano. Track 9 contains a sample of DMG 3.27.11 from the album Armadillo in Sunset Park. Kitamura owns all rights to these materials.
License Information
Artifacts from the Labyrinth © 2026 by Kyoko Kitamura is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY includes the following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
℗ 2026 Kyoko Kitamura / © 2026 Kyoko Kitamura. All rights reserved.
