Kashicomi elegantly takes the stage to perform a set of stylish, classy jazz-inspired tunes with an upbeat, warm undertone.
Kashicomi is a seiyuu unit signed with Marine Entertainment. The duo consists of Showhuku Showrai’s radio hosts, Sho Nogami and Shoya Chiba.
Title: fight,fire with fire Label: Marine Entertainment Release date: 22/12/2021 Genre: Jazz-rock / Pop-rock
Tracklist:
1 - fight,fire with fire 2 - 君に歌うリフレイン 3 - 虹 (original song by Aqua Timez) 4 - fight,fire with fire (off vocal) 5 - 君に歌うリフレイン (off vocal) 6 - 虹 (off vocal)
Track by track analysis:
A note that “Niji”, an original song by Aqua Timez is not available as a digital release due to copyright thus it was not reviewed. This is a review of the official digital release available on OTOTOY.
1 – fight,fire with fire
Kashicomi kicks off this single in style with a jazzy “fight, fire with fire“.
The mood is elegant and mature, carrying over from their 2nd mini-albums “Dusk“.
The verses ride on a comfortable mid-tempo washy beat, with a punchy, fatty baseline on top, dreamy piano and Rhodes melodies in the background, and the star of the show, the guitars played in a mix of blues and funk style.
Used as accents through the song is a brass section. This is an element that brings out a playful element in this song will putting further emphasis on the mature tone of “fight, fire with fire”.
The song flows so well that when you get to the chorus you didn’t even notice it was already time for it. The chorus is as catchy as you can get. The drums get pretty interesting in here with a couple of off-beat snare hits, plenty of work in the ride, and then, as you sign off the chorus, bring in the splash.
On the vocal end, listeners find Sho Nogami and Shoya Chiba tapping into their groovy selves, delivering a smooth performance. Both added a lot of flair to their performance, with legato and breathy sections taking over.
When it comes to their harmonies, those that greet you as soon as you hit play in this song (then repeating throughout the song), both singers went a bit high on their range while keeping things suggestive.
2 – 君に歌うリフレイン
Wrapping up this single is the gentle song “Kimi ni utao refrain“.
This song strays away from the sound in the title track, bringing forth a bright, upbeat – but not overbearing – sound.
The piano melodies are full of hope, strings are open and high pitched, brass is upbeat and guitars – acoustic and electric – are all about those major key chords to create a sound that will put a smile on your face.
The verses have a nice tempo to them, carefully carrying the vocals through them to the chorus.
The chorus is bubbly and warm, with the blend between rock and pop elements shining with the strings and brass being particularly smooth here.
As far as vocals go, Nogami and Chiba went for a different style of performance, tapping more on their natural range. Nogami is steady in his mid-to-high tones whereas Chiba is well into his high range, bringing a youthful element to this performance.
While not their best song – not the best on this CD – “Kimi ni utao refrain” arrives to scratch an itch for fans of the duo that wanted a bubbly, warm song from them.
Final considerations
Kashicomi is back in style with a single that arrives as unexpected but ends up being a fantastic entry in their repertoire in “fight, fire with fire/ Kimi ni Utau Refrain“.
Instead of hard-hitting rock music, the duo brought jazz and bubbly pop-rock to the spotlight, highlighting different skills of theirs.
“fight, fire with fire” is the star of this single. It has a unique poise in its presentation, with elegance standing out through its smooth jazz sound.
This is a sound that carries over from the duo’s 2nd mini-album “dusk”, and actually suits the duo’s style and singing skills.
“Kimi ni utao refrain” is a sweet pop-rock tune with a bubbly edge made to put a smile on your face.
This is a good song overall and with a really cool vocal performance but far from illustrative of how Kashicomi is absolutely amazing as a duo. In a way, this is a generic intermission to pop-rock that ends up sounding better than expected.
All in all, “fight, fire with fire/ Kimi ni Utau Refrain” is a groovy, emotional single. A solid entry in Kashicomi’s repertoire, well worth checking out.
“fight, fire with fire/ Kimi ni Utau Refrain” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
You can purchase the official digital version of “fight, fire with fire/ Kimi ni Utau Refrain” on OTOTOY.
