SOARA have a fresh take on their pop-rock sound and surprised us with the matured, gritty “Shin Sekai“, their first entry in ALIVE’s RE:START series.
Title: ALIVE RE:START series vol.1 Sora&Morihito Label: Tsukipro/Movic Release date: 25/05/2018 Genre: Pop-Rock
Tracklist:
1 - 新世界 2 - 新世界 -off vocal-
Track analysis:
1 – 新世界
SOARA are in charge of the first entry in the ALIVE RE:START series. Right from the bat it’s easy to understand that this is quite a different take on their trademark sound. We’re all used to the peppy piano melodies and simple, guitar melodies and youthful vibe.
“Shin Sekai” takes their trademark sound to a different place, polishing it in some parts, adding some rawness in others, giving off an indie rock vibe. This instrumental has a fresh approach to their sound, yet it’s very much like what you’d expect from a band such as SOARA, however, up until now, they had never seriously ventured to such a sonority. So what changed with this new approach? Synths took the backseat, peppy piano melodies were toned down, rhodes piano melodies joined the mix, jazz-y piano melodies were added, and electric guitar riffs were cranked up a notch to deliver a rawer, grittier rock sound than we’re used to from them. The last time SOARA had embraced this kind of sound was with “Summer Session“, released back in 2015.
The first seconds into the song are enough to let you know that you’re in for an entertaining tune, with the uptempo snare-y beat, memorable bass line and bold guitar riffs leading the way in the verses. The high throttle chorus not only is catchy but is also a bundle of fun, infecting the listener with its energy.
This instrumental plays well with SOARA‘s theme for the RE:START series: theme park – as well as the band’s trademark youthful and upbeat sound.
On the vocal end, Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Yuki Ono teamed up to deliver a thoroughly entertaining and energetic performance, one that makes this song all the more enjoyable. Their singing tones balanced themselves pretty pretty well, with both tackling mid-tones but with completely different results. There were no discrepancies in quality between their performances, as a matter of fact, they kept pushing the envelop, with Toyonaga adding vibrato and Ono going all out with his powerful mid-to-lower range. Their performance easily ranks as the second best (performed by this duo). A friendly reminder that in 2015 the group worked with in a weird dynamic (having a primary duo for most of those releases).
All in all, “Shin Sekai” shows a matured side to SOARA‘s music. It’s exciting, upbeat but it has a serious, rawer twist that most of their releases in the past have lacked. A great entry in this series.
Final rating:
ALIVE SOARA [RE:START] Series Vol 1. is available for purchase on CDJAPAN.
