INSOMNIA by 鬼束ちひろ

Insomnia (インソムニア, Insomunia) is the debut album by Japanese singer-songwriter Chihiro Onitsuka, released in March 2001. The album features acoustic-oriented production arranged by Takefumi Haketa, who produced all her studio albums released under the Virgin Tokyo label distributed by Toshiba EMI. It comprises 11 tracks written by Onitsuka, including hit singles "Cage", "Edge", "Memai", and her most well-known and successful song "Gekkō." The lead-off track "Gekkō" was initially used as a theme song for Trick starring Yukie Nakama and Hiroshi Abe, a television drama series aired on Asahi TV in 2000. It was released as a single in August 2000 and became smash hit. At the end of the album, different rendition of the song was included. While "Gekkō" remained on the chart, "Cage" and "Memai" were released as the singles subsequently. The lyrics of the latter was acclaimed, winning the 43rd Japan Record Awards for "Best Lyrics" in December 2001. It became the first top-ten hit single for her, peaking at the number-six on the charts. Before Onitsuka gained popularity through "Gekkō," she had already released a single "Shine" arranged and produced by Nozomu Tsuchiya. A song was newly recorded for the Insomnia album. Album version arranged by Haketa features stiff sound of piano he plays. Likewise, a song originally released as a B-Side for her debut single called "Back Door" was also re-recorded. "Rasen" (a song whose working title was "My Fragile Life") was featured on the 2002 motion picture Wasabi directed by Luc Besson and starred by Ryōko Hirosue. Music videos of 7 tracks included on the album were produced; "Gekkō" (both single and album versions), "Cage," "Memai," "Edge," "We Can Go," and studio live take of "Shine." All of them has been available on DVD entitled Me and My Devil issued in April 2001.