KiiKO are an Irish-Japanese band led by Dublin-based Japanese DJ Emmy Shigeta. Their music is energetic and playful electronic pop. John McDowell produces and Dave Rogers plays drums. Their music is energetic, playful electronic pop with powerful live drums, arpeggiated synths and lush strings under staccato bilingual vocals.
Their first single, ‘July’, is based on Tanabata, the Japanese wish-making festival held on July 7th every year. The idea of wishing for something beyond your dreams has run through everything since. KiiKO is about relentless positivity and never giving up.
Since their first single in 2025, KiiKO have sold out Whelan’s upstairs, supported NYC’s Kassie Krut at Bello Bar and played All Together Now and Féile na Gréine. They have been covered by Nialler9, District, Resident Advisor, Four Four Magazine and The Thin Air.
Their debut album KiiKO Forever is self-released on 9th October 2026, on all streaming platforms and on limited edition white vinyl. KiiKO will also be playing Ireland Music Week on October 2nd 2026.
KiiKO, the Irish-Japanese trio share their new single ‘Dance World’, a fast-moving collision of electronic pop, Japanese influence and live instrumentation which will be released September 18th.
‘Dance World’ Artwork
The three-piece have built a sound that feels difficult to pin down, with glitchy textures, staccato pop melodies, and an instinct for taking a song somewhere unexpected.
‘Dance World’ is about going out with nowhere particular to be. It starts in the hazy space of an unknown night, where plans disappear and the outside world gradually becomes less relevant.
As the song builds, quieter, echoing passages give way to distorted bursts of energy, mirroring the feeling of getting lost in a room full of people and losing track of everything beyond it. The result is euphoric, constantly shifting between restraint and release.
That sense of movement runs through KiiKO’s music. Drawing from the worlds of artists including Cornelius, Towa Tei and Kero Kero Bonito, the trio combine electronic production with drums, live strings, glockenspiel, bass, synths and vocals.
There is something slightly disorientating about ‘Dance World’ in the best possible way. Melodies appear and disappear beneath layers of electronics, instruments cut through the mix before dissolving back into it, and the track keeps pushing forward without settling into one fixed shape. It is music made for movement, but with enough detail to reward close listening.
The single arrives ahead of KiiKO’s debut album, KiiKO Forever, due for release on 9 October 2026. With more music and further details to come in the run-up to the album, ‘Dance World’ offers the first glimpse into a project with plenty more left to uncover.
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