Bialystocks

Overview

Bialystocks (ビアリストックス) are a Japanese alternative rock band and pop duo formed in 2019, made up of vocalist Sora Hokimoto and keyboardist Go Kikuchi. They made their major-label debut in 2022 with the album Quicksand and are signed to IRORI Records, a label under Pony Canyon.

The name comes from the main character of the film The Producers, which Kikuchi loved so much he reportedly memorized all its lines.

Members

• Sora Hokimoto (b. 1992): vocals, guitar, cornet, lyrics and composition. Born in Ogose, Saitama, he graduated from Tama Art University and has lived in Kochi since 2017. He is also a film director, visual artist and novelist.
• Go Kikuchi: piano, synthesizer, guitar, bass, vibraphone, programming, vocals, lyrics, composition and arrangement. He studied piano and composition from childhood and was influenced by New York jazz during a language-study stay, then began working as a jazz pianist. He cites Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter and George Gershwin as influences, and won the vocal-category grand prize at the 39th Asakusa Jazz Contest on December 7, 2019. He has supported Ohashi Trio, Kantaro Ihara and Haruko Oishi live, and worked on recordings for Ihara, Watashi Kobayashi and TOMOO.
• Early members: guitarist Hirofumi Shimizu and drummer Taiichiro Mura (2019 to around 2021).

Career

2019–2021: Formation and debut album

The band began at a live-score screening of Hokimoto's film Haruneko on February 10, 2019, at Plan-B in Nakano, Tokyo. The event was meant only to replay the film's music, but the four musicians decided to write original songs. They released their first digital single, "Emptyman", on June 19, 2019, and their self-titled independent debut album on February 17, 2021. Its song "I Don't Have a Pen" was used in NTT Docomo web commercials. After the album, differing opinions led the other members to leave, making Bialystocks a duo. The album cover features a painting by former member Mura.

2022: Major debut

• January 26: debut EP Tide Pool.
• Spring: "Sashiiro", their first original drama theme, became the ending theme of TV Tokyo's Sensei no Otoriyose.
• October: first one-man show at Otemachi Mitsui Hall, sold out on the day; they also signed with IRORI Records.
• November 25: Hadaka no Yume, directed by Hokimoto with a Bialystocks score, was released.
• November 30: major-label debut album Quicksand, which reached No. 62 on Billboard Japan Hot Albums.

2023–2024

In January 2023 they played their first overseas show at Taiwan's Neon Oasis Fest. A first one-man tour (Osaka, Aichi, Tokyo) followed in January–February, and a six-date 2nd Tour ran from June to September. In September 2024, "Sashiiro" was used in a Kirin Namacha commercial (and again from July 2025). Their third album, Songs for the Cryptids, arrived on October 2, 2024, followed by a seven-city release tour. On November 8 the film Route 29, starring Haruka Ayase, was released with theme song and score by the band. At the Tokyo date of Bialystocks Tour 2024, they displayed works by painter Kazuyuki Takezaki, who designed many of their covers and died on June 22 that year.

2025

In April they toured Tokyo and Osaka, and a newly written song was used in a GLOBAL WORK commercial. From August to November they played 19 cities on the "Two-Piece Tour 2025", adding daytime shows at 13 venues where the evening shows sold out; the tour was documented as a Diary of short films and text by Hokimoto. In November they began the seven-piece "Bialystocks 2+5 TOUR".

2026

On January 5 they released "Kotozute", the ending theme of the anime Ikoku Nikki, and provided the theme "Everyday" and score for Fuji TV drama Ramune Monkey. The 2+5 TOUR finale was held in Tokyo on January 9, and the drama's original soundtrack followed on March 4 (26 tracks on CD, 34 via streaming). On July 15 they played their first Nippon Budokan show to about 10,000 people, sold out, and announced a fourth album, still untitled, due within the year. On July 25 they made their Fuji Rock Festival '26 debut directly on the Green Stage.

Musical style

Their music freely blends jazz, 1940s–50s movie musicals, J-pop, British rock and folk, anchored by Hokimoto's open, flexible voice. Kikuchi grew up with American standards, while Hokimoto grew up with the Beatles and Carpenters; Kikuchi says J-pop elements inevitably enter through Hokimoto, and that his own compositions sometimes borrow from American music while Hokimoto's vocals give a more Japanese sound.

Billboard Japan called Quicksand a "border-crossing" pop record rooted in jazz with soul, folk, rock, ambient and electronic elements. Songs for the Cryptids was described as pop with soul pop and Beatles-esque rock, with Hokimoto's voice showing the "clarity of gospel" and "warmth of folk". Reviewers noted the influence of musicals on the "visual lyrics and sound" of Tide Pool, including "Over Now" and "All Too Soon".

Recognition

• Selected for Spotify's RADAR: Early Noise 2022.
• Producer Koichi Tsutaya ranked "Toudai" No. 2 in EIGHT-JAM's 2022 year-end picks.
• Quicksand won the Shikoku Block Prize at the CD Shop Awards 2023, and Songs for the Cryptids was a CD Shop Awards 2025 finalist (Blue).

Trivia

Actor Takumi Kitamura became a fan through his brother and introduced the band to Aimyon, leading Hokimoto to direct the music video for her song "Zarame". Yokohama DeNA BayStars player Tomoya Inoue uses "Sashiiro" as his walk-up song.