Haru Nemuri Releases New Single 'Ikiru'

Japanese singer, songwriter and poetry rapper, Haru Nemuri has released the new single "Ikiru" today, taken from her new full length album, 'Shunka Ryougen' on April 22, 2022. The album, which contains a massive twenty-one songs, will be available digitally and on vinyl.

"We are born and we die. I often wonder why such a simple thing is so beautiful," says Haru on the new song. I don't know any reason but when a person exists just as they is, I sometimes can't help but shake in my heart at the sheer beauty of it. I don't know what it is and still now without knowing I wrote this song just to sing about the beauty of being."

Next week, the official music video for the song will be released featuring actress Ruka Ishikawa.

Haru recently completed a string of SOLD OUT North American tour dates, finally being able to perform after re-scheduling four times due to the pandemic. She stunned crowds in Brooklyn, NY, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, wrapping up at SXSW 2022, where she was heralded by the Austin Chronicle and Paste Magazine as one of the best performances they saw at the festival.

Fans were delighted to see new music released from Haru throughout 2021 with the singles "bang", "Inori Dake Ga Aru", Seventh Heaven", "Old Fashioned", and "Déconstruction" are out now and will be found on 'Shunka Ryougen'.

Not many teenagers are inspired equally by American post hardcore icons such as Fugazi and Japanese avant-garde music legend Susumu Hirasawa, but therein lies the magic of Haru Nemuri and the work she has created over the past five years.

The upcoming album follows her debut 'Haru to Shura', released in 2018. On it, Haru crafted songs with elements of "modern urban innocence, constraints and homogeneity, which therefore created a feel of tension and compactness." Over time, she says her beats and riffs have developed "a feel of more wideness in natural space" that would have been difficult to produce before. "I am now able to create sounds that are further closer to the ideal," she adds. "When I have ideas for songs, I am just an intermediary to help bring them to life. I strive to fulfill that role."

Haru has always made music for herself first, but now the world is listening - even if they can't understand a word of the Japanese language in which she sings, raps and frequently screams. Haru has built a dedicated following thanks to extensive touring in Japan and other parts of Asia, and sold out numerous shows in Europe on her first trip there in 2019, which included a performance at the legendary Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.

The 6 singles, including "Ikiru", out now offer a fascinating glimpse into where Haru's music is headed. "Bang" and "Old Fashioned" splice Haru's rapped vocals atop heavy, distorted guitar riffs, while the vocal layering on "Inori Dake Ga Are" gradually becomes more and more disorienting, until Haru is shouting at the top of her lungs and the guitars reach a deafening volume. The shoegaze and alt-rock-leaning "Seventh Heaven" was written for the film ("Colorless"), which she says "helped me see a new side of myself. After hearing it in the movie, I was just astonished that I was able to write that music."

Listen to the new single here: