Caroline Lufkin

Caroline Lufkin (born January 9, 1981) is a Japanese-American musician and the younger sister of the Japanese pop singer Olivia Lufkin. Caroline's music been released by Temporary Residence Ltd. Caroline is also a full-time member of Mice Parade (FatCat Records).

Biography

Originally from Okinawa, Japan, Caroline Lufkin graduated from the Berklee School of Music in Boston in 2003. After graduating, she moved to Tokyo and began working on an album. Before signing with her current label, she had been working on an album in the Japanese music industry where she was being groomed to be a Japanese pop singer. However, she left because of differencing in views on her music stating that "they kept on telling me to change things and I didn't want to change them... They were trying to make the music super-pop and I couldn't quite deal with it."^[1] She made ripples across the Japanese pop music scene when she famously walked away from a lucrative major label contract that virtually guaranteed the same kind of bright-light super-stardom that had made her sister Olivia a household name in Tokyo.

Instead, Caroline decided to write, perform and record her own songs and began a search for indie labels. "Where's My Love?"—her first song—was posted on her MySpace page in late 2004, and it quickly went viral. She sent TRL an e-mail, asking if she could submit a demo, and included a link to her MySpace page. A few days later, Jeremy deVine, the founder and co-operator of the label, expressed interest in signing her.^[1]

"Where's My Love?" was officially released as a single on October 25, 2005, but was also distributed during the previous month. On March 6, 2006, Caroline released her first album, Murmurs, and soon after held her first live show at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, on March 17 at the Whisky Bar.^[2]

In 2007, Caroline was asked to join Mice Parade of FatCat Records. She is now a full-time and touring member of Mice Parade and appeared on their singles, "What It Means To Be Left-Handed" (2010) and "Candela" (2013). Caroline has also collaborated with many artists and bands including Saxon Shore ("This Place"), Her Space Holiday, Lite ("Arch" and "Time Machine"), DJ Baku ("Buddha Boy"), and Anamanaguchi ("Sunset by Plane").

Caroline 2nd full album released "Verdugo Hills" (2011) and "Verdugo Hills Remixes" (2012) through Temporary Residence Limited.

In 2016, Caroline collaborated with relative, Masaru Shimabukuro who is one-third of Begin, the most successful band from Okinawa. They formed a group called Island Bag on the major record label Avex Trax, covering in English the number one hit song Uminokoe (written by Masaru Shimabukuro). The song played on AU commercials.

Caroline was also the voice of the Uniqlo Wake Up app for iOS, on which she collaborated with Yoko Kanno and Cornelius.^[3] Caroline is also known to lend her musicianship, whether singing, writing or both, to anime, commercials, and video games. Her clients include Netflix's Ghost in the Shell, Coded Arms Assault, Final Fantasy, Nikon, Gunze, NTT, Disney, Suntory, etc. Her work continues sometimes under different aliases.

Discography

Albums

• Murmurs CD - Temporary Residence Limited March 7, 2006
• Murmurs Mixes iTunes digital album - Temporary Residence Limited January 8, 2008
• Verdugo Hills CD / LP - January 2011
• Verdugo Hills Remixes iTunes/LP - July 24, 2012

Collaborations

• Saxon Shore - It Doesn't Matter LP ("This Place")
• Mice Parade - What It Means to Be Left-Handed LP
• Mice Parade - Candela LP
• Mice Parade - Live: England vs. France
• Lite - Past, Present, Future EP ("Arch", "Time Machine")
• DJ Baku - Buddha Boy featuring Caroline
• Island Bag - Stars in the Sand
• Anamanaguchi -"Sunset by Plane" 2019
• Mice Parade - "Eisa Dancers" December Single 2020
• Mice Parade - Lapapọ LP 2022
• Netflix's Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045 Season 2 ("Find Me") 2022

Background vocals

• Her Space Holiday - Her Space Holiday ("Black Cat Balloons", "Shonanoka", "The Hummingbirds", "Come On All You Soldiers", "Death of a Writer")

Singles

• "Where's My Love?" CD single - Temporary Residence Limited October 25, 2005
• "Sunrise" CD single - Temporary Residence Limited October 2, 2006

Compilations

• TRL100: Thankful ("Wonderlust") CD - 2006, Temporary Residence Limited
• Destroy Independent Music! CD sampler - 2007, Temporary Residence Limited

References

External links

• Official website
• New Music magazine 2005 (Google books)
• Caroline's Murmurs
• Lufkin Sisters
• The Milk Factory - review of Murmurs 2006
• eMusician interview 2006
• Dusted magazine feature 2005
• Salon.com entry 2006^{[permanent dead link]}
• Juice Online interview 2008

This page was last edited on 12 March 2024, at 11:30