I was out last night with a friend who showed me how to do retirement right – namely by doing whatever you want with your time. I am not retired yet, but I am committed to also doing it right.
Disc 1788 is…Shikisai
Artist: Wagakki Band
Year of Release: 2017
What’s up with the Cover? Do you like portraits of Wagakki Band? Do you like expensive wallpaper? Can’t decide which you like better? Then this cover is for you.
How I Came To Know It: I discovered the band through an article, but “Shikisai” is one of a glut of albums my buddy Nick picked up for me when he was in Japan last year.
How It Stacks Up: I have seven Wagakki Band albums, and “Shikisai” is the best of them all so #1!
Ratings: 4 stars
Do you like a lot of key changes? How about music played so skillfully in front of the beat it feels like its going to trip and fall down a ravine, but never does? Then Wagakki Band may be for you and if they are, you can’t do much better than their 2017 bloated but brilliant work, “Shikisai”.
Whenever I review a Wagakki band album I feel compelled to explain what strange concoction of styles you should expect. Dear reader, I don’t want to lead you astray, and to Western ears, Wagakki Band can be a lot. They incorporate J-Pop, metal, hard rock and a fair bit of traditional Japanese folk. The blend is unlike anything you’ve heard but give it a chance and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
When Nick brought back the albums from Japan, he brought a lot of them – six in total, and I’ve been excited to review “Shikisai” since I first heard it. Wagakki Band blends all their disparate styles as perfectly as they’ve ever accomplished, and front woman Suzuhana Yuko has never sounded better. She is still as sweet and pure a pop vocalist as ever, soaring majestically over some of the band’s best compositions.
Yuko is powerful and pure in an otherworldly way, like a Valkyrie flying over a field of the slain, calling them home. Or maybe flying over a field of brightly coloured flowers on her day off. With Wagakki Band you get music that evokes both images, sometimes in the same song. Note these songs are in Japanese – I cannot confirm the presence of Valkyries, flowers or corpses.
Case in point, “Bogetsu (Full Moon)” which is one of the heaviest tracks on the record…until it’s not. This one crunches from the very beginning, but then in comes Yuko to smooth and sweeten things out in what I believe is the B section (or the chorus – Wagakki Band compositions can have a lot of movements, and my limited musical vocabulary gets quickly overwhelmed). The song also features whole chunks that feature furious playing of various wooden folk percussion instruments to add a third element ‘ere the end.
On “Okinotayuu (Albatross)” and “Tori no Yo ni (Like a Bird)” they slow things down, and the structure of the song strongly evoked the cosmopolitan Celtic folk of Capercaillie. Karen Matheson’s singing is hard to match, but Yuko is up to the task, and while I have no idea what this song is about (I’m going to guess an albatross, but it could just be a metaphor) I was drawn in with the sheer beauty of the melody and vocals.
As noted earlier, this album is entirely in Japanese. You will hear a lot of words sung quickly, but unless you speak Japanese you won’t know what is being said. On that note, a weird thing has just happened. When I am listening in the car or my device, I can’t see the names of the songs, and I don’t usually remember them (without lyrics it is hard to hang a title with a tune) but lo as I listened and wrote this review I find that Track 10 is titled “Valkyrie”. Beautiful song, but my evocation of the image above was entirely by chance, dear reader. But I digress…
Back to the music, which continues to astound with its sheer variety. On “Watashi Shijo Shugi (My Supreme Principle)” you get fast singing, then anthemic singing, then fast singing then anthemic singing. It bounces back and forth but all the potential for busyness is swept away with the exceptional talent of the musicians. Keeping eight musicians this tight isn’t easy, but Wagakki Band delivers.
“Yuki yo Maichire Sonata ni Mukete (Snow Dancing and Falling Towards You)” has a lot of flute mixed with the guitar, and reminded me favourably of other folk/rock fusion bands like D’Artagnan and Wucan, although those guys are singing in German.
My only gripe with “Shikisai” is the length, at 17 songs and 71 minutes in length, it is a lot of a good thing. The final track is listed as a bonus track, but I didn’t find it a bonus at that point.
My copy of the album has other bonus features I liked more, including a DVD performance and yet another collectible card (this is a thing many of the albums come with) featuring the entire band including – scandalously – one member sans shirt!
One too many songs but a bonus DVD and a collectible card is a fair trade off for me, particularly when it is the best Wagakki Band album out there.
Best tracks: Kishikaisei (Death and Rebirth), Howling, Yuki yo Maichire Sonata ni Mukete (Snow Dancing and Falling Towards You), Watashi Shijo Shugi (My Supreme Principle), Bogetsu (Full Moon), Okinotayuu (Albatross)
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