SparQlew keeps impressing with their latest mini-album, “we will…”, showing off their growth while delivering top-notch music.
Title: we will... Label: Kiramune Release date: 02/08/2023 Genre: Funk-pop/Pop/Ballad/Rock
Tracklist:
1 - Stay Gold
2 - MONSTER
3 - LIVE COALS
4 - Make you mine
5 - マジックアワー
6 - All my heart
Track by track analysis:
1 – Stay Gold
A ska-style guitar opens the curtains to “Stay Gold“, song that has an obvious summery sound coming from its jaunty piano melodies.
The verses are fun and upbeat, making the listener join in clapping and singing along. But as you look closer, the chorus itself goes by in a flash.
Actually, the transition from verses to chorus is so seamless that it’s barely noticeable that you changed parts. When you notice, the chorus is already in, the verse is already out and all that remains is a lot of fun and good vibes.
With a funky, melodic style of song, you can expect all members to go for a fancy style of performance that both makes them sound good and also the instrumental really engaging.
It is worth pointing out that in quieter parts, Shun Horie takes the stage and lowers his tone slightly to sound raspy in his unique tenor voice. What follows is one of the smoothest parts of this performance.
However, it is worth mentioning that all members delivered an awesome performance filled with energy but also displayed a lot of control resulting from continuous growth.
2 – MONSTER
And SPARQLEW introduces its first sub-unit consisting of Takuto Yoshinaga and Yuya Hozumi and believe it or not, I was expecting a funky rap song – taking into account what the two members had performed in their solo songs in “Daybreak” – yet, I couldn’t be more far away in that anticipation.
The duo performs a thunderous rock tune with a powerful bassline + drums combo.
“MONSTER” is all about its overdriven guitars and that dirty bassline that drives the song forward and honestly, I am all in for it (also because of those bits of cowbell going on in the instrumental).
On the vocal end, you can expect Hozumi and Yoshinaga to deliver a dual performance. They tackle most of the song with clean vocals but midway through, they have a rap part. And they display a lot of quality in both, something that pleasantly surprised me.
3 – LIVE COALS
Another song, another change of tone. “LIVE COALS” arrives with a big, bubbly sound with an inspiring vibe.
Despite its big intro, the song quiets down quite a lot for the verses, pairing up the vocals to create unisons and other fancy things on the vocal end.
The tempo picks up when more percussion is introduced to this song, getting a danceable edge with a tropical-inspired beat that breathes life into the chorus.
When it comes to the performance on the vocal end, SparQlew’s members are paired up in the first part of the chorus, cover for each other almost in a canon fashion in the second part of the chorus, and then perform the chorus in unison.
While I get that with this song being inspiring having all the members performing as one gives it a grandiose vibe, I feel like this song would have gone in a better direction if it had followed what was done in the verses.
4 – Make you mine
“Make you mine” brings forth a mature R&B tune that sounds like a spiritual successor to the vibe in “Daybreak”.
Slow-paced and with a fancy piano and bass sound alongside a deliberately sultry on the vocal end, “Make you mine” is classy in its presentation while putting the spotlight on the vocals.
And I believe that while the instrumental for this song is unbelievably good – having a loungy yet intimate vibe – what shines the most to me is the work on the vocal end.
All members go for jaw-dropping falsetto parts, their unison in the chorus sounds heavenly good while they all display control over their voice tones.
This results in a natural performance that doesn’t sound cheesy or forced. It is mature but not overly so and all members do suit that vibe with fairly ease.
5 – マジックアワー (magic hour)
Yuto Uemura and Shun Horie team up for the other new sub-unit within SparQlew.
The duo performs “Magic Hour”, song that brings longing guitars to the spotlight as a full-blown ballad prepares itself to be unleashed.
The verses are slow-paced, led by the piano, with live drums, a deep bassline, and dramatic strings joining in and stirring your emotions as the chorus makes its entrance.
The chorus brings a classic rock ballad element to the spotlight with the electric guitars screaming in the background, illustrating the emotions in the lyrics in a clear way.
When the bridge arrives, the piano takes the lead, adding a layer of beauty to this song while preparing you for the final chorus.
As far as the vocals go, Uemura and Horie make a really solid duo. Their voices complement each other, they have completely different skillsets and despite having a clear difference in experience – or technicality, if you want to go deeper in this analysis – they matched pretty well to the point that is not even noticeable.
They harmonize well, their teamwork is quite impressive and they sounded cohesive throughout. As far as their individual performances went, I was quite impressed with how much emotion Yuto Uemura could bring to his performance this time around.
All in all, “Magic hour” arrives as a pleasant surprise, opening the doors for more ballads of similar quality.
6 – All my heart
And wrapping up this mini-album is “All my heart”.
Chill guitar riffs open the curtains to what is the best song in this mini-album.
Slowly, a tight bassy beat joins in alongside minimalistic synths, creating a warmth and free soundscape for you to lose yourself in.
For the chorus, expect guitar a danceable, tropical-inspired instrumental paired with those slightly muted guitar riffs in the verses.
This is one of the most addictive choruses by SparQlew and certainly one of the best among male seiyuu pop artists/groups this year.
When it comes to the vocal performances, you will find rapping by Takuto Yoshinaga and Yuya Hozumi with Shun Horie (in the first chorus) and Yuya Hozumi (in the second chorus) singing the melody in the chorus as Yuto Uemura (in the first chorus) and Takuto Yoshinaga (in the second verse) complements it.
Fancy vocals on top of one of the most fun and addictive songs of the year is how SparQlew wraps up this mini-album in style.
Final considerations
SparQlew continues its good spell, this time around with the release of the mini-album “we will…”.
It is quite satisfying to see and listen to this group improving with each CD release, bringing forth interesting performances, fancy instrumentals (that suit their vocals), and a whole load of quality on the vocal end.
The highlight in the mini-album belongs to “All my heart”. This song is both a cool throwback to late 90s R&B pop but it is also a fancy take on tropical pop, creating one of the most addictive and energetic tunes so far released in 2023.
As far as the first sub-unit songs I can’t say much more than what I said above. The duos work well together, their voices aren’t overshadowed by the other members and both songs provide more time in the spotlight for each member (something I believe always lacking in any seiyuu group or unit with more than 2 members).
I was caught by surprise finding that both sub-units actually embraced rock music but in completely different ways. Hozumi and Yoshinaga went all out with a dirty overdriven riff leading the way while Uemura and Horie went the rock ballad way. It was nice to find them performing songs in a music genre that rarely makes an appearance in SparQlew’s repertoire.
At the same time, it provided me – and I believe many other people – to get to know the individual talents of the group’s members.
All in all, Sparqlew’s “we will…” is an exciting entry in their repertoire, continuing their good spell since 2021’s “Daybreak“.
“we will…“ is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
“we will…” is available for streaming on Spotify.
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