We’re back with another X Lied series release. This time around we have one of the most anticipated releases in hand. Shiki Takamura (Takuya Eguchi) and Shu Izumi (Shunsuke Takeuchi) are here to impress with their vocal talents in what is a stellar release.
Title: SQ X Lied Vol 1. Label: Tsukino-Pro Release date: 24/03/2017 Genre: J-Pop/Rock/Electronica
Tracklist:
01. クロスノーツ 02. End of Night 03. クロスノーツ (off vocal) 04. End of Night (off vocal)
Track by track analysis:
01. クロスノーツ
Eguchi takes on the challenge to sing a song slightly different from what we’re used to from SolidS. Enlisting the help of dirty synths was a nice choice, giving this song the fast paced city life imagery we immediatly got from it. This song has two different gears but all of them close to being fast paced. Not often can we say that an instrumental song gave us a certain “imagery”. There are songs that weren’t made with this purpose, this is one thankfully has a fantastic touch – much like SolidS‘ last single “COCORO” that had a similar imagery. On the vocal department Eguchi is using all his trumps and what we get is a powerful performance with an interesting mix of high and mid-to-low tones. Incredibly well executed. 5/5
02. End of Night
Is everyone alright after listening to this song? A funky bassline leads the way for what is the major highlight in this release. “End of Night” is a quality minimal pop-rock song with some electronica bits that makes great use of his deep vocals. We’ve already talked about the funky bassline didn’t we? Well, that’s basically the core of the song. Building up around it are the snary drums, acoustic guitars, synths and piano parts. All of these elements together not only make a fantastic instrumental but also give a good laidback mood to the whole song. Takeuchi tackles this song with ease for a memorable performance. If you’re reading this before listening to the song we can only say, you’re in for an amazing ride! Takeuchi doesn’t disappoint. 5/5
Final rating:
We got the leaders of SolidS and QUELL facing off for this first SQ X Lied release. And we’re beyond impressed with both performances. It’s nice for a change to have Eguchi taking on a much simpler song than what SolidS usually presents to their listeners. Eguchi is a terrific singer. He might not be the most skilled or own a one-of-a-kind singing voice but he’s good, really good. He adapts easily to the music genre he’s faced with and changes his vocals accordingly. Few are able to do that and make it sound good in the end product. He might sing on a lower key when he’s with SolidS but here we found him reaching for those high notes and doing it pretty well.
Now Shunsuke Takeuchi… Takeuchi is a powerhouse, there’s no way around it. We’ve been fans of his since we were struck by his skills on QUELL‘s debut single. He’s a vocal powerhouse that might be only exploring about 1% of his talent at such a young age – people don’t realize this, but he’s only 19 years old (born in Sep. 1997)! Note that, for example, Mamoru Miyano and Kishow didn’t sing this well or sounded this polished when they made their solo debuts (and they did it later in their 20’s).
For a kid like him to have vocals so well developped at such a young age only means that he’s a natural at it. And from what we can tell, he might have a lot of untapped potential that if nurtured right, might turn him into one of the best singers in the business. To finish this small rant we need to mention something: how many singers in Japan can actually pronounce english correctly? We leave that question to each of you but the answer is clear. Well, our boy Takeuchi has a close to flawless english pronunciation that will make you swoon.
SQ‘s X Lied series kicks off with a bang as both leaders set the ante insanely high from the get-go. A release that we recommend everyone to give a listen.
SQ X Lied vol. 1 is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.
[…] followed left everyone speechless. Shunsuke Takeuchi got on stage and performed “End of Night“. He was the only SQ member that performed a choreography on stage alongside several dancers. […]
Thank you very much for this review! Although I didn’t listen to much of Eguchi until encountering Trignal, I do believe that Eguchi indeed has the vocal prowess to sing different types of music genres, and whilst I am not a massive fan of SolidS, I felt that this track was very interesting.
As a dual English/Japanese speaker, I felt that Takeuchi’s transition between the two languages was very smooth, and I would really love to hear more of Takeuchi’s songs in the future! Thankfully, I realised that he also appears in Sta-Myu series and the character he voices seems to be one of some importance in the 2nd season, so he might get a solo or perhaps duet song there as well, hopefully.
midorin, thanks so much for always keeping us in the loop about solids! this site is the first place i go to whenever i need to know the latest about solids and quell, and you always write about them so enthusiastically, i love it. thank you!
langmaor, thank you for these words! The enthusiasm is always there, especially when you’ve been following the groups since its early stages and have witnessed their growth over the years (which is my case). Glad you like our coverage of SolidS and Quell’s work. Thanks for supporting us!
Thanks for this review! Hopefully more people become interested in this CD, because it’s definitely mesmerized me! I can’t say how much justice SolidS does to Eguchi’s voice, this tone he uses here is ideal for me in his case! I fell in love with Takeuchi Shunsuke’s voice after hearing him in Quell, and as I was wishing for a solo song of his…here it is! You couldn’t have said it better that he’s SO GOOD! His singing leaves me speechless and I’ve yet to hear him screech at any point. I bet this is how angels sing T_T And about his English, thanks for mentioning it. It’s to die for! I’d heard it in Quell too but I wasn’t too focused on it, and hearing it here struck me hard and now I want to hear him speak whole sentences or do a full English song. I hope he gets more recognition in the future.
I love Eguchi and he’s amazing in this, but I think the spotlight for this CD is Takeuchi Shunsuke, this being one of the rare occasions where we can hear him display his vocal skills. I know he could do a lot more with his voice (those Quell songs! the choruses!) but I think this sort of tranquil songs, ballads fit him so well.
You’re very welcome! We sure hope so because the quality this time around is through the charts! Both Eguchi and Shunsuke are on the vocal primes and we finally get solo songs from them – especially Shunsuke’s because we can hear Eguchi’s sort of solo songs with rêve parfait (mostly). We had to mention Shunsuke’s english because we were caught by surprise by it! Shunsuke will grow to be a top singer in the business. Deep vocals + can easily belt higher notes + no sign of missing keys + he’s young. Everything is smiling his way right now. Hoping Tsukipro’s anime will make more people notice him and all these talented groups! Thanks for stopping by and spend a bit to write a comment 🙂