And the other rookie unit on the block is Regulus. With their first single out, this trio attempts to dazzle everyone. Is it really what they managed to do with “Rui tomo“?
We officially kick off our first Regulus review.
For those that aren’t familiar with the group the members are: Yojiro Itokawa, Shoichiro Oomi and Ippei Matsuoka.
Title: Rui Tomo Release date: 15/02/2017 Label: Tsukicro Genre: Dance Pop
Tracklist:
1.ルイトモ 2.Beautiful World 3.しあわせの花束
Track by track analysis:
1.ルイトモ
The title track is mid-tempo bright pop song resorting to simple hi-hat driven drums, acoustic guitar, brass and almost unnoticeable bass work. This sweet song thankfully doesn’t go towards the cheesy road making things overwhelming for the listener. The instrumental keeps everything simple while trying to retain the overall mood of the song. The vocal performances are stronger than expected, presenting the listeners with falsetto and vibrato in several occasions (a good example would be the chorus part). A solid instrumental as well as a solid vocal performance start things off with this single. 4/5
2.Beautiful World
The intro is simply dazzling. The delicate piano melody lays the first notes into this dance track. After the emotional intro we’re presented with an instrumental featuring dirty synths, pads and a looping sweet piano melody. Synthetic drums join the song alongside the minimal guitar work in the background. “Beautiful World” is certainly more energetic than the previous track but it also isn’t that fast paced as expected from the casual j-pop dance tracks. It has just the right pace to not being a dancefloor anthem nor a ballad. It’s a mix, staying right in the middle. It’s been a while since we’ve heard this kind of instrumentalization – especially the fantastic guitar solo in the middle of this dance track. Vocally the song is nothing extraordinary – might have been because of the lyrics or the vocal arrangements or anything in between, but the vocal performance sounds a bit lacking in comparison with the previous track. 4/5
3.しあわせの花束
Slowing down the pace again we’re presented with しあわせの花束, a sweet mid-tempo electronic pop song. This is the highlight on this release – both instrumentally as well as vocally. The vocal performance is of top quality – the falsetto left us in awe -, as well the harmonization between members. The instrumental is once again heavily rooted in electronica-driven instruments. Synthetic drums, synths and a delicate piano melody make up for most of this song – and it’s enough to make this track standout in the middle of this release. 5/5
Final rating:
Regulus are so far the strongest unit among the Altair Theatre project. Vocally they are more capable as a trio than what we could assess from their fellow unit RIGEL. Regulus have three incredibly capable members with solid control over their vocals – displaying well trained falsetto and vibrato in several occasions. While these techniques might be considered as ways to enrich the song, we value those more than powerful dance tracks with little to no vocal control or unbalance between the member’s vocals.
Despite the fact that this release has the exact same rating as RIGEL‘s did one thing is for certain, this single is clearly stronger and more appealing than the other.
Now that we know that RIGEL are dance music driven and Regulus tends to stray more for the melodic pop with hints of electronica, the mystery remains as to what the rookie units left to debut will sound like. More on that on upcoming reviews.
“Rui Tomo” is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.
