UMake‘s “Insomnia.”: when an April Fools joke ends up being one of the most exciting releases of the year.
Title: Insomnia. Release date: 01/04/2021 Label: Art Sonic Genre: Visual-kei
Tracklist:
1 - Insomnia
Track analysis:
1 – Insomnia.
“Insomnia.” may have been released as the result of an elaborate April Fools prank by UMake but it is quite the interesting and serious take on the music genre.
This is easily one of the things that will easily stand out. Yoshiki Nakajima and Kento Ito did their research to nail both the lyrics and instrumental in a classic late 90s, early 00s visual-kei rock in the likes of L’Arc~en~Ciel, Luna Sea, and BUCK-TICK.
It shows clear influences of punk rock in its tempo but it also lends a lot from goth and shoegaze in those distant guitar riffs, the bassline is prominent, taking centerstage away from the guitars that just limit themselves to filling in the rest of the song’s instrumental.
It is genuinely interesting how many influences UMake managed to cram into this song and made everything work in the end.
Embracing a classic visual-kei sound also came in handy as it doesn’t require a lot of theatricality – like some most recent and popular takes on the genre are known for – or screamo – something that would certainly have a certain level of danger for their vocal cords.
Opting for a simple take on the genre also enabled Nakajima and Ito to perform in the style of visual-kei yet still retaining their own quirks and thus, the performance doesn’t feel flat nor forced.
At the same time, it made the song easy to listen for fans of UMake that may not be familiar with or not enjoy visual-kei rock but still wanted to check what the duo would manage to pull off.
“Insomnia.” is a textbook visual-kei rock song from the late 90s, there’s no doubt about it. UMake pulled off quite the awesome feat with this song in the composition, writing, and performance sides.
Insomnia is available for streaming on Spotify.
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