Tetsuya Kakihara "Saichaina" (Review) – The Hand That Feeds HQ

Tetsuya Kakihara‘s Saichaina is out. It’s finally time to review the release that everyone has been talking about.

Single: 咲いちゃいな (Saichaina)
Label: Kiramune
Release date: 15/04/15 
Genre: J-Pop/Rock

Tracklist:

1. 咲いちゃいな　
2. world in bloom　
3. Othello

Track by track analysis:

1. 咲いちゃいな

With a simple melody provided by the piano alongside a whole acoustic setting, Saichaina is a pretty mellow, mid-tempo pop-rock track.

Sweet with the minimal synths and at the same time melodic with the piano, on the other side the acoustic guitars give a laid back feel to this track – it completely screams “it’s spring” with its bright composition and vocal delivery.

While it’s true that Tetsuya Kakihara has already sang this kind of tracks before, it’s also true that this is the first time that both the instrumental and the vocal performance are incredibly strong.

Impressive song with a vocal performance to back it up. Strong opening for this single.

2. Othello

Boogie night? Not precisely, but the 80’s disco feel that “Othello” exudes right from the beginning of this track makes us want to party.

It’s funky disco pop and not only does this fit the single concept but it also shines in Tetsuya‘s repertoire.

The instrumentalization is rich, resorting to mid-tempo jazzy drums, melodic guitars, retro synths and a funky bass – all of this making a track that will be impossible not to make you dance along.

The vocal performance is energetic and captivating. This one will keep you in the groove until there’s no tomorrow.

3. world in bloom

To complete this release we find “world in bloom” a track that distances itself from the previous two tracks showing us a more eurobeat approach to his sound.

It’s a completely different track from what Tetsuya has been presenting us so far but the eurobeat elements are not excessive.

This is actually a mid-tempo dance track with just the right measures of dirty synths, synthetic drums and distorted bass.

Fun, enthralling with Tetsuya‘s high notes and a strong surprise in this release.

Final considerations

It’s always great to see an artist grow and Kiramune has been making it a trend within their artist roster. This sounds completely different from anything you’ve heard him perform before.

This is not the so-called conventional j-pop/rock. It’s funky, it’s jazzy, it’s melodic, it’s danceable and above all that, perfect.

It’s safe to say that this release overwhelmed everyone.

Barely anyone was expecting something as complete and diversified from a Kiramune artist, especially from Tetsuya Kakihara that only recently had distanced himself a bit from the pop-rock that has marked his solo career so far.

Kicking off with the title track “Saichaina” and its laid back feel, passing through “Othello” showing us Tetsuya‘s playful side and ending our trip with “world in bloom“, the 00’s eurobeat – this single has it all and on the right amounts.

There’s not an inch of over-the-top ridiculous instrumentals or lazy/weak vocal performances.

Everything was trimmed well making this release a close to perfection bundle.

Almost as if spellbound, I can’t say anything else besides the fact that this is a stunning release. Top of the game and power release by Tetsuya Kakihara.

“Saichaina” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.