Review | Shugo Nakamura “Here comes The SUN”

Shugo Nakamura makes his solo debut with a tailormade release, exploring his singer-songwriter skills in a wide variety of easy-listening rock tunes.

Title: Here comes The SUN
Label: Lantis 
Release date: 30/10/2019 
Genre: Rock/Pop

Tracklist:

1. Here comes The SUN
2. Rain forecast
3. ゆらゆら (lyrics and composition by Shugo Nakamura)

Track by track analysis:

1 – Here comes The SUN

Nakamura takes on a summery trip with Here comes The SUN. The melodies are simple, with the focus on the funky bassline and melodic guitar riffs, elements responsible for creating a laidback soundscape.

The song oozes a feel-good vibe, with its verses flowing into choruses and choruses flowing into verses seamlessly.

Vocally, Nakamura delivers a solid performance that is not showing in any way.

He tackles each line with emotion and adds a bit of his falsetto to enhance the quality, proving that simplicity sometimes is key for a great song. 

2. Rain forecast

Rain forecast brings the grit of indie rock with Brit-rock vibes on top of it. Guitars are a major part of how melancholic this song sounds, showering the listener with emotional riffs, hard-working wake-up drums, and a noticeable bass line.

The instrumental progresses as a textbook Brit-rock tune, short verses, an impactful yet simple chorus, and a powerful solo that pours a whole lot of emotion into the track.

Nakamura’s performance is haunting, grabbing the listener’s emotions right from the start, taking us on a roller coaster trip through the melancholic lyrics coming to life by his emotional vocals. The highlight of this release.

3. ゆらゆら

This release wraps up with Yurayura, song that brings to the table a laidback semi-acoustic rock tune with lyrics and composition by Shugo Nakamura. Electric guitar riffs are distant while acoustic guitars and simple drums set the pace for this track.

The song evolves from a slow-paced, simple tune into a complex, layered song as we reach the chorus.

Piano melodies and a groovy bassline add drama to this track, culminating in the emotion-filled chorus we are presented with. The powerful guitar solo in the outro shines in both quality and length, adding a nice finishing touch to this track.

On the vocal end, Nakamura goes all out for this song, delivering a stunning performance, filled with emotion and in which his high register and falsetto were in the spotlight. Terrific song on all fronts – lyrics, instrumental, and performance.

Final considerations

Here comes The SUN is an impressive debut release that manages to perfectly capture the essence of the solo artist instead of going the generic, safe route for his first solo release.

This single reflects Nakamura’s indie roots, his quick-witted instrumentalization, feel-good melodies, and easy-listening lyrics. Plenty of seiyuu have debuted as solo artists this decade but few have had the luck of their first release being as close to their roots and their true colors as this one.

The title track has everything you could have asked for: catchy melody, simple lyrics, and an overall sound that you can easily associate with the artist. Nakamura did all of that without being flashy which is a plus.

Rain forecast and Yurayura battled it out for the spot of best track on this single. These two songs make an impact on their emotionally charged instrumentals and vocal performances.

All in all, Here comes The SUN is a fantastic starting point in Shugo Nakamura‘s career as a solo artist. A must listen.

Here comes The SUN is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.

“Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy (Anime)” Outro Theme: Here comes The SUN [Regular Edition]

Shugo Nakamura