Naozumi Takahashi is back with a new single when not long ago his album “VOICE RENDEZVOUS” was released. Naozumi Takahashi didn’t break his pace and this time released the double side single “Furaibo/Boenkyo“, featured in the Japanese movie 幼獣マメシバ 望郷篇 (Yōjūmameshiba bōkyō-hen). Let’s kick off this review with some details regarding this release.
Single: Furaibo/Boenkyo Label: Realize Records Release date: 17/09/14 Genre: J-Pop
Tracklist:
1 - ふうらいぼうきょう 2 - 望遠郷 3 - ふうらいぼうきょう (instrumental) 4 - 望遠郷 (instrumental)
Track by track analysis:
1 – ふうらいぼうきょう
Furaiboukyo has a pretty simplistic music arrangement, kicking off acoustically, resorting to acoustic guitars, bass and blowing instruments, mainly the trumpets. This track goes in the complete opposite way than his tracks in VOICE RENDEZVOUS. Putting aside the electric guitars, heavy drums and dirty synths, this time the sound is raw, a perfect fit to Naozumi‘s angelic vocals. A laid back track with a pretty sweet feel alongside it. It might not sound like it’s a big deal of track and that, of course, Naozumi certainly has done better tracks before, but still, it’s an interesting way to present his sound and a befitting track for the movie it’s being featured in. 4/5
2 – 望遠郷
Keeping on with the country vibe we’re presented with 望遠郷, a track that keeps things simple but sweet and melodic which is a nice surprise. It’s far from being Naozumi‘s trademark sound but he fairs nicely with his take on country music. The instrumental track resorts highly to acoustic instruments: acoustic guitars, bass and minimal drums complete the simple instrumental piece that gives a nice background to the perfect vocal performance delivered by Naozumi. 4/5
Final rating: 
Naozumi is back with a single without comparison in his repertoire: it’s exclusively acoustic, with simple instrumentals, putting aside all those overly complicated instrumentals that characterized VOICE RENDEVOUS. In this single there’s no place for synths, heavy guitars or even aggressive drums; on the contrary, the simplistic country pop-rock influences take over this single and make it a place that allows the listener to simply relax and have a good time with it. The formula is simple and the results turned out to be interesting but nothing out of the ordinary or close to be a top track in this single.
Furaibo/Boenkyo is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.
