“Anata no Hana” is a song like no other. Shugo Nakamura raises the bar with an enka-ish performance on top of a tasteful mix of traditional Japanese music and electronica that will grab your attention.
Title: Kachofugetsu Hen Hana "Anata no Hana" Label: Tsukipro/Movic Release date: 23/03/2018 Genre: Traditional pop
Tracklist:
1- あなたの花 2- あなたの花 -off vocal-
Track analysis:
1- あなたの花
The theme for this Kachofugetsu Hen release is “Flower“. With that imagery in mind, “Anata no Hana” is a delicate and beautiful piece that embraces a traditional sound, driven by shamisen melodies and taiko drums.
QUELL‘s eclectic, atmospheric electronic sound still has its touch on this track despite it sounding nothing like their songs.
Bits of electronica can be found as mere atmospheric additions to this instrumental, with synths only taking a bit of the spotlight in the chorus, but never taking over the whole instrumental.
Mixing those minimalistic synths with the equally minimalistic shamisen, taiko drums and strings proved to be crafty and of good taste.
With only a bass drum setting the pacing in the verses, strings are in charge of setting a delicate and classy mood for this song. That is easily achieved thanks to the fantastic arrangement and mixing.
The song grows its tension as we approach the chorus, giving way to one of the simplest choruses out of the whole Kachofugetsu Hen series so far (SQ and ALIVE included). This simplicity is a winner, showing us a tasteful mix of traditional Japanese music and minimalistic electronica.
On the vocal end, we find Shugo Nakamura tackling this song with flair. His singing was tailored in an enka-ish way for this performance, focusing more on an emotional take on the lyrics and adding the essential flourishes to deliver a complete performance to impress the listener.
“Anata no Hana” kicks off QUELL‘s take on the Kachofugetsu Hen series in the best way possible. We weren’t expecting a song like this coming from anyone in QUELL, especially when the unit has never ventured to traditional Japanese music territory.
Thankfully, this is yet another successful venture for QUELL, a quality, ethereal addition to the Kachofugetsu Hen series and yet another top performance for Shugo Nakamura. A must listen.
Kachofugetsu Hen Hana is available for purchase on CDJAPAN.
[…] If you’re curious about this release we’ve got it reviewed HERE. […]