Miho Hatori loves words. As one half of the international pop phenomenon Cibo Matto, Hatori sang in French, Portuguese, Japanese and English, creating lyrics that made words dance and flow as sweetly as a stream of summer water slipping down a mountainside. “Every language gives you a new perspective,” Hatori says, even if that language is the language of insects. “I grew up near a river where there were a lot of pear fields and every summer I went out to pick up cicada shells. When the cicadas do ecdysis (ek duh sis,) the shells they leave behind are brown, but they emerge with a beautiful, glistening green color that’s impossible to describe. I was thinking a lot about how stunning nature’s work is while I was working on this album.” The music on Ecdysis -- Miho’s debut solo album to be released on Rykodisc -- has a wide-open, adventurous spirit with multi-layered arrangements that draw you deeper with every listen. Hatori has created an album that tips its hat to the past, present and future of pop music with its unlimited vision and openhearted generosity of spirit. Rhythms from Japan, Jamaica, Brazil, Bali, Africa and Arabia rub up against American rock, blues and pop to produce an album of global resonance that draws upon the past while leaping fearlessly into the 21st century. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.