The duo project "synfilums" by Shin Kikuchi and Itoko Toma releases their fifth album "antonym" from the label "88 landscapes" under SCHOLE.

Their previous album "synonym" was a piano piece by Itoko Toma based on the cherry blossom motif and melody created by Shin Kikuchi.  This album consists a reconstructed music using the piano as a source which was sampled and reworked.  "synonym" was originally not planned to be released as it was intended to be used as sampling source, but after the completion with a beautiful performance and sound recording, it was changed to release before the release of "antonym".  Eight microphones were used to record a piano in three dimensions, then the tones were reconstructed to fit the image of the music.  By mixing with different colours and materials, each music were transformed into a new musical work.

Like developing a new cherry blossom variety, creating something new using the imagination while retaining the quality from the original, and Shin Kikuchi incorporated this process to create the artwork from the image held in his mind.  The background concept and the piano equally present and blend together, and the image which seems to be react against each other, these represents the prototype of the songs that were completed through this process.

A beautiful dreamlike stretch of cherry blossom trees was born, with the addition of music which has been fascinatingly interpreted by the sound artists related to SCHOLE label, whom Kikuchi sent an invitation to join this project as a New Year’s greeting.

For the digital release, these music will be divided into three EPs (antonym: kouyo, rakuyo, tsubomi), and will be released as one album (antonym) in the spring of 2026.  As it can be suggested from the title it allows you to imagine the changes of cherry blossoms.
When the flowers fall, the leaves add colours, and when its leaves also fall, it will reveal the beautiful structure of the branches.

Enjoy these music that attempts to create a new cherry blossom that has never been seen before through sound and artwork, while being moved by the beauty of cherry blossoms and its nature that changes its appearance from season to season beside people's life. 

It fits perfectly into the case of the separately sold work "synonym".