SOARA “Mirai e no Okurimono” (Review)

SOARA steal the show with “Mirai e no Okurimono“, a breathtakingly beautiful acoustic ballad that goes beyond anything we know about this quintet.

Title: 未来への贈り物
Label: Tsukipro/Movic
Release date: 27/04/2018
Genre: Acoustic ballad

Tracklist:

1 - 未来への贈り物

Track analysis:

1 – 未来への贈り物 (A gift for the future)

Up until now, SOARA had delivered us youthful, upbeat and thoroughly entertaining pop-rock tunes. Some were a hit, others a miss but this group never failed to bring something interesting to the table, be it vocals or instrumental wise. However, “Mirai e no Okurimono” is something completely unique that most wouldn’t expect from this quintet. The pacing and tone for this ballad are the best in their repertoire. The focus is put on a raw, simple sound in which acoustic guitars are the center piece. Simple, snare-y drums, melodic guitar riffs, a memorable bass line, minimalistic, soothing synths and delicate piano melodies paint us a nostalgic image, capturing the listener’s attention.

The first half of the song focuses mainly on its acoustic sound, whereas the second half focuses on bringing to the spotlight a rawer sound, putting electric guitars in the spotlight and slowly building up momentum to the highlight of this song: the bridge. As soon as the emotional strings attack the bridge, chills run down the spine and you won’t help but to feel emotionally invested in this song, its meaningful lyrics and the stunning vocals that are enveloping you since the very first note in this song. The instrumental’s progression, gradually adding more drama and tension, the explosion of warmth in the chorus, the breathtaking build up in the bridge, all were executed flawlessly.

SOARA aren’t known as a group that makes touching songs nor ballads, yet everything about this song felt right. It’s as if they always performed this kind of songs. It felt natural.

On the vocal end, we all have to agree that SOARA delivered a mesmerizing performance. Line distribution was key for this song to further impress us. Toyonaga‘s emotional vocals and Ono‘s gentle mid tones are the core for their performance nevertheless this time around, due to a close to perfect line distribution, the listener gets to enjoy Sawashiro‘s nasally-husky tone, Furukawa‘s powerful vibrato and sweet low notes and Murata‘s delicate mid-tone. In result, we got harmonizations, canons, ad-libs and perfect synchronization in the choruses, something unprecedented in their repertoire. And we get to the best part in this song: the memorable bridge. Toyonaga might have led the way in that section yet, contrary to what usually happens in their song, everyone played an active part into making the bridge sound as breathtaking as it did. When taking a closer listen at each member’s vocals, it’s impossible to say who performed best or who needs to improve. Everyone has highlights in their performance. This is the very first time that I find all members performing at the same level.

“Mirai e no Okurimono” is an acoustic rock ballad that goes beyond anything we know about SOARA. Jaw dropping vocals and a perfect, well crafted instrumental stole the show. This is the group’s best entry featured on TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION, as well as their best song to date.

SOARA have completely surpassed themselves with this breathtaking performance.

Final rating:

This song is included with the fifth DVD volume of the series.

TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION Vol.5[BD]