“Irochigai no Itotaba” shines in Gakuto Kajiwara’s repertoire with its sweet, ambitious, and uplifting semi-acoustic rock sound.
Title: 色違いの糸束 Release date: 20/07/2022 Label: AVEX Genre: Rock / Acoustic Pop-Rock
Tracklist:
1 - 色違いの糸束 2 - あの日が未来だった君へ 3 - ⾊違いの⽷束-TV ver. - 4 - 色違いの糸束 (instrumental) 5 - あの日が未来だった君へ (instrumental) 6 - ⾊違いの⽷束-TV ver. - (instrumental)
Track by track analysis:
1 – 色違いの糸束
Clean vocals power their way through acoustic guitars and beautiful strings in “Irochigai no Itotaba”.
The mid-tempo gives ways for the rock band sound to slowly grow in intensity, building up the expectations for the chorus that is awaiting you.
The chorus opens the doors to a wide soundscape. It feels like nothing can stop you as you have so much to discover there.
Emotional strings, splashy drums, warm acoustic guitars, a punchy bassline, jolly piano in arpeggio as well as those riveting vocals by Kajiwara, all work together in a way that will suck your attention into them.
Vocally, Kajiwara delivers a strong performance with rock-solid mid-tones vocals leading the way but also gentle, clean head voice used as accents to raise the tension in the performance.
Overall, “Irochigai no Itotaba” opens the doors for this single is a gripping way and with a refreshing sound that will have you wanting more.
2 – あの日が未来だった君へ
Wrapping up this release is “Ano hi ga mirai datta kimi e“.
This song brings to the spotlight overdriven guitar riffs and pounding drums in its intro, signaling the start of another laid-back indie-rock tune with good vibes at its core.
The verses are simple and uncluttered, with rimshots and melodic guitar riffs taking the lead yet in a subdued way, leaving the spotlight on Gakuto Kajiwara’s mid-toned vocals.
The chorus is an explosion of the emotions contained in the verses. The sound changes dynamics, with the drums and bass taking the spotlight for themselves.
It’s at this moment that Gakuto Kajiwara goes higher and raises the volume (slightly) on his vocals to snatch the spotlight back to himself.
While this is not the most technical performance in his repertoire, Kajiwara shows his consistency in performance, unwavering as he tackles trickier parts, changes of tempo or even how he outputs his emotions.
Solid performance to this single.
Final considerations
“Irochigai no Itotaba” arrives with Gakuto Kajiwara’s trademark semi-acoustic sound however it leaves you with a sweet, ambitious, and uplifting sound that you will want to hear more and more.
One thing I absolutely love about the title track is how, despite being featured in an anime series, it doesn’t sound like it is. The sound is not generic; the performance has all the effort you’ll find in a regular song by Gakuto Kajiwara. It is tasteful in a way that you can show it to non-anime fans and they won’t notice it is featured in one.
This made it so that the song both works in the anime it is featured in but also in this single, not disturbing the harmony in sound and the continuity in tone within it.
“Ano hi ga mirai datta kimi e” is in the same tone, also following that gentle yet laid-back semi-acoustic rock sound, however, it lacks a bit of the charm and gripping effect that “Irochigai no Itotaba” has.
The performance is also fairly simple in comparison. While this is not, by any means, something bad, it is something that makes both songs sound nothing alike despite being in the same music genre and, in some way, with a similar composition.
As far as the vocals go, Gakuto Kajiwara powered his way through the performance of “Irochigai no Itotaba”, tapping into his mid-tones as well as his higher range, bringing to the spotlight his well-known clear head voice notes.
All in all, Gakuto Kajiwara’s “Irochigai no Itotaba” is a solid entry in Gakuto Kajiwara’s repertoire, well worth checking out if you love clean voices and semi-acoustic rock music.
“Irochigai no Itotaba” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
“Irochigai no Yakusoku” is available for streaming on Spotify.
Do not support piracy. Remember to support Gakuto Kajiwara’s solo career by streaming via official outlets.
