Lagrange Point‘s “Beautiful Phantom” brings the funk to the table, further enriching the duo’s refined romantic pop-rock sound.
Title:Beautiful Phantom Label: Rejet Release date: 10/06/15 Genre: J-Pop/Rock
Tracklist:
01.Beautiful Phantom 02.レッドブザービート 03.愛のファタモルガーナ 04.今はGoodNight 05.Beautiful Phantom -off vocal- 06.レッドブザービート -off vocal- 07.愛のファタモルガーナ -off vocal- 08.今はGoodNight -off vocal-
Track by track analysis:
01.Beautiful Phantom
With a French touch given by the intro with a fabulous harmonica, Beautiful Phantom shows Lagrange Point embracing a more laidback, melodic approach to their sound. Yes, heavy guitars and powerful drums are out of the question on this track.
The instrumental piece takes on a completely different approach as it resorts to the surprising, yet relaxed harmonica, strings, piano, and jazzy bass, all these instruments enveloped in the mid-tempo, snare/bass drum centered drums mixed with some incredibly laidback acoustic and electric guitars.
Everything’s in check with the instrumental piece, as soon as we put our focus on the vocal execution we have no remarks left. With a harmonious instrumental, Toyonaga and Genki are left with the best opportunity to mesmerize the listeners.
They took the challenge head-on and the result is this warm, silky performance with its climax straight in the chorus. A rich track with warmth and gentleness that is a first for Lagrange Point.
02.レッドブザービート
The playful レッドブザービート instantly brightens up this single. With a jazzy, elegant instrumental consisting of jazzy bass and drums alongside trumpets, a sax, melodic guitar, and piano, it’ll be an understatement to say that this track is merely entertaining.
Its playfulness resulting from the classic, timeless instrumental where the contrabass leads the way, gives the listener a cinematic view of what the ’50s sounded like.
It’s fun, addictive, and adding the vocals we enrich the track with that smooth delivery by both Toyonaga and Genki. A mid-toned voice plus a tenor alongside a jazzy, funky contrabass and melodic sax? A sure-fire winner.
03.愛のファタモルガーナ
With the sitar as its core, 愛のファタモルガーナ will grab your attention right from the very first seconds into the track.
A track that not only keeps Lagrange Point‘s classiness in check but also takes them to new heights, mixing not only the elements already part of their sound: the funky bass, the guitars that range between the heavy riffs and the jazzy melodies but also picked some elements that LUV EXODUS added to the unit’s rich instrumentals – mainly the synths and the guitar distortions.
Pick all those elements together, add Latin percussion, a sitar plus Toyonaga‘s melodic/playful vocals, and Genki‘s warm vocals and we get this rich, witty track.
Although the sitar might sound odd for some listeners, we recommend really give it a try because this is by far, one of the best tracks in this release.
04.今はGoodNight
On a closing note, we find a track that doesn’t sound like anything Lagrange Point has released so far. 今はGoodNight starts off strongly with its synths and high throttle dance momentum, instantly grabbing the listeners’ attention.
Something as new as this instrumental is a first for the romantic pop-rockers Lagrange Point that we so well know for about more than a year.
But as strange as it seems, the unit pulled this track off with flying colors.
The instrumental as stated before resorts mainly to synths, fast splashy synthetic drums, funky bass, and melodic electric guitar, all exploding at the same time in the electrifying chorus, mellowing down on the verses to give room for Toyonaga and Genki to shine in the up-tempo track.
Final considerations
Keeping up with the momentum right from the start, this release didn’t present us with a single dull moment.
MIKOTO brought back the long cinematic intros among other elements to Lagrange Point in what is right now, the best release this unit has released so far.
Taking their romantic charms into a whole other level, Lagrange Point sound gentler and more melodic with this new approach to their sound. The instrumentals played a big part in this change as the heavy guitars and strong drums were toned down, sometimes adopting a jazzier sound, enabling the unit to have this rich, playful, classy, and at the same time, entertaining sound.
With or without the heavy guitar riffs and powerful drums, Lagrange Point are on top of their game, with vocal performances to match with the unit’s perfected sound.
New elements were brought for this single: the sitar and the sax – and we couldn’t be more satisfied by the way they were blended, sometimes taking pivotal roles in the tracks and sounding captivating altogether.
Lagrange Point are keeping up their momentum since their debut without any kind of problems or decreases in quality which is commendable, to say the least. And we get yet again mesmerized by how fresh their music is sounding these days. A delight to listen to.
“Beautiful Phantom” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
[…] month later, in June, the group was back at it with yet another single. Beautiful Phantom was an unexpected release. After the Best Of, fans were expecting another rock-driven release what […]
[…] “愛のファタモルガーナ” was an odd ball that brought a sitar, latin percussion and synths into the mix. The song leaned towards a radio friendly sound with it’s danceable instrumental and exotic touches. Toyonaga showcased his smooth, melodic vocals whereas Okawa brought vibrato to the table and polished mid-tones. It was an exciting song that was completely different from anything they had released at that time. For more about this single refer our review. […]