Japanese alt pop/rock group Kurayamisaka is a band that doesn't spend that much time looking in the rearview mirror. Their most recent singles are definitely of a more "mature" pop persuasion, but this doesn't detract from their earlier work in the slightest. The heart-fluttering whimsy of more recent efforts like "Evergreen" is presaged by the dove-winged dramatic catharsis of tracks like "Cinema Paradiso" off their 2022 EP
Kimi wo omotte iru, but even in the light of these premonitions, their earlier work retains a distinctive character all its own.
Kimi wo omotte iru (basically
I'm Thinking of You) is one of those albums that impeccably balances temperate coquettish purrs and dulcet whispers with a visceral, suffocatingly dense undertow of distortion in a manner that is both fantastic and liberating- a veiny rill of intersecting streams where shoegazey sizzle roils over emocore pathos in its most essential form. They essentially synthesize the brazenly exquisite charm of Pains of Being Pure at Heart and the volatile fuzz-fry of Ovlov's landfill style of guitar noise without cutting corners on either melodicism or delivery on blistering impact. Tracks like "Seasons" are amongst the most impressive in this regard, starting out with a roll of heated rock thunder before effortlessly unfurling a delicate and enduring bristle of melody that manages to hold its own even in the ensuing maelstrom of a gratifyingly emotive upswell of energy and release. There are more subdued moments as well, like on the cautious waltz of "Last Dance," but even in their moments of reprieve, the group manages to hone a vital energy that is given more conspicuous expression on the turn-up-and-burn-out closers "Farewell" and "Curtain Call".
Kurayamisaka may have progressed in their endeavors and moved on (as they should), but I've been thinking about Kimi wo omotte iru almost daily since it first graced my ears, and I'll probably continue to ponder it for years to come.
