Impish Crow tones things down in its sound, bringing forth an easy-listening pop-rock tune with the playful “TAKE OFF”.
DIG-ROCK is a 2D rock music franchise created by TEAM Entertainment in 2019. The franchise branches out from the drama CD series, MintLip. This is a mixed media project that incorporates music with drama CDs.
DIG-ROCK counts with 3 rock bands of different backgrounds and sound: RUBIA Leopard (Makoto Furukawa on vocals), Impish Crow (Yuma Uchida on vocals), and HOUND ROAR (Toshiyuki Toyonaga on vocals).
Review
Title: DIG-ROCK -BREAK TIME in NY- Type:IC Label: TEAM Entertainment Inc. Release date: 22/12/2021 Genre: Pop-Rock
Tracklist:
1 - 日本脱出! 2 - 予期せぬハプニング 3 - ようこそ、ニューヨークへ! 4 - サイトシーイング! 5 - サプライズな出会い 6 - ひと目ぼれって信じますか? 7 - TAKE OFF (NEW SONG) 8 - アイ・アム・インピッシュクロウ!
Track analysis:
7 – TAKE OFF
A playful overdriven guitar riff and a clap track welcome you to this simple, upbeat pop-rock tune.
The verses are kept simple, with a punchy bassline adding a groove and bouncy twist to the, up until then, empty instrumental.
The song keeps on changing dynamics, adding more and more instruments as you approach the chorus, with all of these – the drums and funky guitar riffs that will put a smile on your face and further put emphasis on this being a song about going on a journey.
Midway through the verses and into the pre-chorus, a cowbell is added to the percussion in this song, lending a hand to the drums – that are kept incredibly simple to the snare and hi-hat in the build-up to the chorus – and making “TAKE OFF” even more entertaining.
In the chorus you find dreamy piano melodies in the background, funky guitar riffs, and a groovy bassline taking over, creating a cool stage in which Yuma Uchida’s vocals shine.
It is worth noticing that, in comparison to previous songs by Impish Crow, this is one of the simplest on the vocal end. Yuma Uchida is delivering a playful, even slightly youthful performance without leaving his mid-tones.
There are some instances in which he raises a little bit his tone – to match the tension of the song or even to crank it up – but that’s about it. This is a simple performance through and through, which is unexpected to find within Impish Crow’s repertoire, even if the band is known for its powerpop sound (a blend of punk-rock with pop, with pop elements being prominent).
And that’s why the one thing you’ll instantly notice is that “TAKE OFF” is nothing like what the band has previously released.
The rock sound is textbook and incredibly simple at its core. The pop elements do take over the song a bit more than usual. In a way, I feel like this song has an almost perfect sound befitting of the whole “going on a journey” theme.
Although the band has already tackled songs with that theme at its core (“Be Ambitious!!!”, song released in 2020), the approach in “TAKE OFF” is softer, which may appeal to those of you that may not be that big of a fan of rock music but still want to enjoy the music in the DIG-ROCK franchise.
In my books this is a really fun performance – more cowbell, please – however, not quite up there with the sound the band has used everyone to. This is a really simple, easy-listening approach to their sound which detracts some of the enjoyment I usually take from their fast-paced powerpop tunes.
Of course, this is my personal opinion as far as the enjoyment I take from listening to it goes.
In terms of quality, this is an incredibly well-put-together song that will, once again, appeal even to newcomers to rock music, Impish Crow, or even the DIG-ROCK franchise.
Solid entry wrapping up 2021 with some style for Impish Crow.
“DIG-ROCK -BREAK TIME in NY- Type:IC” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.