It wouldn't be the obvious place to look. And yet singer Hajime Chitose was seeking a new peace of mind when, 1.3 billion km away, she found what she was looking for.

"When I saw a picture of Saturn, I thought the relationship between the planet and its many rings represented the good balance that is so important in life," the bohemian singer proclaims. Known as Cassini rings, they lend their name to Hajime's latest release.

Hajime, a singer from Amami Oshima island who is dubbed by the media as "The voice of 100 years," rose to attention in 2002 with her remarkable vibrato vocal delivery and her take on the traditional island folk songs known as shima-uta, and took the music to the mainstream.