Rock and traditional Japanese music join hands for a fun, Japanese summer festival-themed tune in “Tsukino Natsuyume Matsuri”.
Title: 月野夏夢祭 Label: Movic Release date: 25/02/2022 Genre: Traditional Japanese/Pop-rock
Tracklist:
1 - 月野夏夢祭 (Koki, Mamoru, Ichiru, Issei) 2 - 忘れかけたもの (Growth) 3 - 月野夏夢祭 -off vocal- 4 - 忘れかけたもの -off vocal-
Track analysis (only “Tsukino Natsuyume Matsuri” was reviewed):
1 – 月野夏夢祭
Another shuffle unit, another song with a traditional Japanese touch.
“Tsukino Natsuyume Matsuri” brings to the table a fun mix of longing shakuhachi melodies, with raging guitars, steady snary drums, and a powerful leading melody in the shamisen.
With rock and traditional Japanese music joining hands, you can expect this song to be a bit more intense and uptempo than other shuffle songs released in the TSUKIPRO franchise.
After an energetic intro, the verses quiet down a bit however you can still feel the excitement in the guitar licks in the background as well as the shamisen melody.
A drum fill on the snare leads the way to the chorus and what awaits you is a lively chorus with a unique singing style, I’d say much like the style of chants during summer festivals in Japan.
On vocals, you have a mix of Growth and QUELL talents in Koki (CV: Shunichi Toki), Mamoru (CV: Junta Terashima), Ichiru (CV: Sho Nogami), and Issei (CV: Shugo Nakamura). This unique mix of talents – some of the most technical in the TSUKIPRO franchise – ends up being underused in this song, at least, in my opinion.
Sho Nogami and Shugo Nakamura brought in energy instead of technicality and the same can be said about the vocal powerhouses Shunichi Toki and Junta Terashima that here are performing in the simplest way possible, barely highlighting their talents.
Of course, in the context of this song – and following its theme – there was not much that could be done on the vocal end that could be simultaneously fun for the listener and technical to highlight the skills of the singers. In a way, I feel like it was a missed opportunity by TSUKIPRO by having some of the most technical singers in the franchise perform a song that doesn’t require any of that.
All in all, “Tsukino Natsuyume Matsuri” is a fun song but only that. The instrumental gets a bit dull after a couple of listens and the vocals make me wonder what could have been if they had a song that suited them, to begin with.
TSUKIPRO the animation 2 vol.4 is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
