“STAR SAIL” is GROWTH‘s newest single, a song that could easily be part of a movie OST with its epic orchestral instrumentalization and the jaw dropping vocal performances. Tsukino Production‘s dramatic, lyrical singers, GROWTH have done it again.
Title: STAR SAIL
Label: Tsukino-Pro
Release date: 28/07/2017
Genre: J-Pop/Rock
Tracklist:
1:ドラマ「涼太の覚悟・剣介の悩み」 2:ドラマ「衛の迷い・昂輝の想い」 3:ドラマ「それぞれの戦い」 4:ドラマ「Without haste, but without rest.」 5:STAR SAIL 6:STAR SAIL -off vocal-
Track analysis:
5 – STAR SAIL
The rustic, carefuly crafted sound that we all know from GROWTH is back. Dramatic strings and brass lead the way for this song, one that could easily be part of a pirate movie OST. The orchestral elements are a constant in GROWTH‘s sound but it seems that this time around, they’ve hit the mark in epicness. The listener quickly gets caught in the middle of an insanely rich instrumental in which timpani mix with cellos, harp, violas, acoustic guitars and a dramatic piano melody as just the appetizers. Yes, the appetizers only. The highlight is, by far, the vocal performance. It’s the first time that we’re in awe thanks to a build up to a chorus that is not exclusively done via instrumental tension but rather by vocal tension, and we love it. The way the chorus was layed out and then performed, enabled for that almost unnoticeable falsetto in the chorus to be more impactful than it could ever be if there hadn’t been tension being carried from the pre-chorus to the chorus. It’s as if all the tension culminated in that note in the chorus. We have goosebumps all over us after that epic pre-chorus to chorus progression and its finale with the falsetto. GROWTH are not kidding around with this performance. They are powerful group with versatile, technical singers and this performance only accentuates that. Junta Terashima and Shunichi Toki are in charge of the mid and low tones while Yoshitaka Yamaya is the high note hitter alongside the versatile Daiki Yamashita.
All in all, if we had to describe this song in a rather simple way we’d probably say “a song with epic instrumentalization and jaw dropping vocal performances“. There’s no other way to explain this song. It’s perfect. The instrumental is, undoubtly, epic and the vocal performances have left us in awe once more.
Final rating: