Shoya Chiba’s “Contrail”, builds on the strong foundation of his debut EP Blessing but falls short of surpassing its cohesiveness and impact.
Review
Title: Contrail
Release date: 28/08/2024
Label: KING AMUSEMENT CREATIVE
Genre: Rock/Pop-rock
Tracklist:
1 - Contrail
2 - Liar Game
3 - Steps
4 - Contrail (Off Vocal)
5 - Liar Game (Off Vocal)
6 - Steps (Off Vocal)
Track by track analysis:
1 – Contrail
Shredding guitar riffs and explosive drums powerfully kick off “Contrail”.
The tempo is comfortable, and the guitars have a dash of funkiness to them, getting quite melodic in their clash – two guitars, one in each of your ears (if you’re using headphones).
At the same time, the bass is punchy, pairing up with the steady snary drums to create a fun – yet simple – beat that perfectly complements the rock + funk mix going on in the guitars.
When it chorus kicks in, the guitars take the lead and the sound is even more exciting than in the verses. I feel that, while listening to this song, this is going to be quite the awesome tune to perform live and have the audience hyped up in no time.
The outro features a shredding guitar solo that will put you on the edge of your seat and, yes, this is a solo that goes for quite a while (a rarity in male seiyuu artists’ music).
You can feel the excitement, the power and you’ll find yourself with a massive smile on your face as you headbang to it.
I love that this song has an outro, albeit a really short one. This is such a rare thing to find – an extra twist just before the end to add more variety and keep the listener engaged.
As far as the vocals, Shoya Chiba continues to showcase his tenor range in full power going from his comfortable mid-tones – packing a lot of power and showcasing his emotional range quite well – to his falsetto, which ends up being the perfect tension reliever during the song more than being a fancy accent to add variety to his performance.
I love how smoothly he transitions between the highly technical falsetto to those strong mid-tones. There’s literally no difference in the power output he gives to both parts which is quite impressive.
All in all, “Contrail” is an exciting, energetic kick-off to a single that shows a lot of promise.
2 – Liar Game
“Liar Game” follows, bringing to the spotlight a more danceable sound in the likes of “Kanjouron”, with atmospheric synths painting a colorful soundscape.
Expect this song to be incredibly bouncy, with a punchy bassline leading the way as a jaunty piano melody is muffled in the background.
Strings appear in the background, adding a nice contrast to the bassy instrumental leading to the chorus.
The instrumental is full-on in pizzicato – something that is rare as hell to find in music, only shifting to legato in the chorus (and even so, the piano melody is in pizzicato in that section)
When the chorus kicks in, that muffled jaunty piano melody gets clarity and leads the way alongside with bassy beat. In the background, the strings continue to add a layer of beauty to this song.
As far as the vocals go, this song is the polar opposite of “Contrail”. There is no focus on power but more on the grooviness of Shoya Chiba’s vocals. He is performing in an R&B style, softer and sweeter to match the song’s playful and mildly cute vibe.
There is a bit of auto-tune going on in this song but it’s not something that will throw you off completely, I actually found it to be a tasteful addition to add more variety to what is, otherwise, quite the comfortable and steady performance.
Fancy and fun, “Liar Game” shows a more pop-driven side to Chiba as a solo artist while showing how versatile he is as a performer.
3 – Steps
And to wrap up, fans are greeted with a bright pop-rock tune in “Steps”. This song feels like a dedication or even a fan song with its endearing vibe and sweet lyrics.
Being a brighter song, expect bells to be used as an accent in the background, and strings to be a bit feature to contrast with the rock sound lead by the shuffle-like drums and electric guitars.
This is a bit geeky but I love the drums work in this song. The hi-hat rhythm is so tight throughout the song and the snary work is so fun, giving a sense of something steadily progressing, perhaps fitting in with the title of the song “Steps” (I honestly don’t know if it was intentional but it’d be quite awesome if it was).
At the same time, a bright piano melody plays in the background – only getting to the spotlight before the last chorus -, leading to the chorus.
The chorus is perfect for a live setting – with “la la la” chants made for the crowd to join and sing along – but on record, this part feels a bit empty in my opinion.
The bridge quiets down the instrumental, putting the strings in the lead as Shoya Chiba’s nasaly and slightly lower vocals – an interesting choice I was not expecting – smoothly deliver this performance.
While not his best song by far “Steps” is a sweet song that will, for sure, be a massive hit in a live setting.
Final considerations
Shoya Chiba‘s “Contrail” builds up on the amazing work made in the debut EP “Blessing” but fails to surpass its quality.
I found the first EP to be much more cohesive sound-wise than “Contrail”. At the same time, I feel the single shows Shoya Chiba dispersing quite a bit of his focus as an artist to cover from cutesy songs to dance tunes and rock.
While this is not a bad thing – after all Shoya Chiba is insanely talented and versatile as a singer – this can end up making him not stand out in the middle of the various male seiyuu artists already doing the exact same thing.
This is a worry of mine – as the first two or three CDs are usually a good way to find his sound, vibe, what works or not, and how he wants to sing – and instead of honing down on a specific music genre, he’s dispersing his focus.
So far the formula for Shoya Chiba’s CDs seems to be at least 2 rock songs, one heavy the other more pop-driven, and then adding a dance tune to balance things out.
Only time will tell if this is going to be the formula going forward or if Chiba is going to focus on a specific music genre or continue to focus on a more diverse presentation as a solo artist.
“Contrail” is heavy and intense, a fun rock tune with a hint of a groovy undertone that I enjoyed a whole lot.
“Liar Game” is funky, bouncy, and addictive, having a jaunty piano sound leading the way that gets in your head and hardly will leave.
And “Steps” arrives as a pop-rock tune with a sweet vibe that will work better on a live setting than it did in this CD.
For me, the highlight of this CD is the title track “Contrail”. The shredding guitars, the personal touch in that song and the way Shoya Chiba performed the song got me going and wishing this single was more of it and less of what we got. But I reckon “Liar Game” came close to stealing the show for me with its jaunty vibe. I’m so curious to see it being performed live – potentially back-to-back with “Kanjouron”.
All in all, Shoya Chiba’s “Contrail” slightly misses the mark after a near-perfect debut with the EP “Blessing”. Still, it has fun ideas, plenty of highlights on the vocal end, and energetic songs waiting for you to uncover.
“Contrail” is available to purchase at CDJAPAN and Amazon Japan (they ship internationally).
You can find Shoya Chiba’s “Contrail” on Spotify and YouTube Music.
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