Review | Shugo Nakamura "Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa"

The talented singer-songwriter brings dreams and reality to life through his experimental single “Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa”.

Shugo Nakamura Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa regular — Regular

Title: 壊れた世界の秒針は 
Label: Lantis
Release date: 28/07/2021
Genre: Rock / Acoustic rock / Pop-rock

Tracklist:

1 - 壊れた世界の秒針は
2 - XXX
3 - 水槽の花

Track by track analysis:

1 – 壊れた世界の秒針は

Shugo Nakamura kicks off this single with the title track “Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa”.

The song brings to the spotlight a dramatic piano melody, with distant atmospheric synths in the background helping create a soundscape in which every note on the piano sounds like a droplet of water.

Electric guitars make their entrance however, those are restrained during the verses, focusing on adding an edge to the instrumental.

Slowly, the drums and guitars take the spotlight, making those bottled emotions pour out

The solo is pleasantly groovy, with the guitar riffs bringing a bit of funk to the mix while the bassline goes bonkers in its groove. The bridge is dirty, intense, and clouded, once again adding to that hurt going on in the song’s main motif.

The outro is yet again overflowing with emotion, being loud and intense until everything is gone and, all of a sudden, those piano notes are no longer droplets of water but rays of sun peering through the clouds.

As far as the vocal performances go, Shugo Nakamura delivers an emotional performance with plenty of falsetto, a bit of rawness, and a whole lot of control.

2 – XXX

“XXX” embraces a picturesque sound in which you have paradiddle drums, harpsichord melodies, accordion, and banjo all in the same place.

As a result, the verses take you to a unique soundscape, almost like you’re in a fantasy tavern. It’s is weirdly entertaining.

Shugo Nakamura’s performance is fairly upbeat and carefree, matching the song’s also happy-go-lucky vibe.

A note that this song cuts in a weird way making you wonder if you have your copy of the song corrupted. It is intended to end abruptly. It adds up to its unpredictability as the oddball of this single.

3 – 水槽の花

Wrapping up this single is “Suiso no Hana”, a song that explores a dramatic, nostalgic sound.

The guitars are slow, muffled and the vocals are emotional. The intro already gives off an emo-rock vibe and carries over that somber tone throughout.

The verses count with an organ melody in the background and delicate piano melodies on top, used as accents. Both enhance the nostalgic tone of this song.

The chorus is decadent and emotional yet what I love the most is the tail of that chorus section, going loud and dark on the guitar and drums. I was not expecting it but it was a nice touch to this song.

Nakamura’s consistency as a singer played in his favor in a song as tricky on the vocal end as this one.

Carrying over feelings and delivering those always with the same cadence and intensity is no easy feat, especially in a song in which if you pour a bit more emotion than what you need, everything will sound wrong. Rock-solid performance.

Final considerations

Shugo Nakamura’s “Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa” is a good yet weird single.

The tone is unusually dark for the most part and you’ll find an oddball, carefree track in the middle of it that doesn’t really fit within the single yet it’s pretty entertaining.

The title track has a cinematic touch in its composition, something that I really appreciate, coming full circle in the story that is being told. The sound is dramatic, the lyrics have a multitude of emotions going on – but mostly melancholy – and Nakamura’s performance will make you want to hear more of that story.

“XXX” is pure carefree fun with a sound and vibe that is completely out-of-place within the single.

Or is it?

If you look at the single as a whole, there’s a whole lot of melancholy and sadness going on, could “XXX” symbolize going crazy or wanting an “escape” from it all?

That’s a different way to look at this song, especially after knowing how weirdly abrupt is its end. It’s almost like you were woken up from a dream, being brought back to the sad, melancholic reality in “Suiso no Hana”, the resident emo-rock track in this single.

“Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa” is a truly weird and unexpected single but incredibly refreshing within Shugo Nakamura’s repertoire not to mention, with, quite possibly, an interesting underlying theme of reality vs dreams.

For what it’s worth, this is an entertaining single, certainly worth a listen if you’re looking for something that will make you think as well as the always rock-steady vocals of Shugo Nakamura.

Kowareta Sekai no Byoshin wa is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.