VAZZY ditch rock and embrace a slow paced, chill out sound with a danceable edge and punchy bass lines. “BLUE” is the group’s best release to date.
Title: VAZZROCK COLOR Series [-BLUE-] Once in a blue moon Release date: 28/08/2020 Label: Movic Genre: Minimalistic EDM
Tracklist:
1 - DRAMA「Blue Monday」 2 - DRAMA「顔合わせ会場にて」 3 - DRAMA「撮影開始」 4 - DRAMA「今の自分にできること」 5 - DRAMA「Out of the blue」 6 - 絆の鳥 (NEW SONG by VAZZY) 7 - 揺れていたい (NEW SONG featuring Takaaki Mamiya, Kira Ouka and Yuma Shirase) 8 - 絆の鳥 -off vocal- 9 - 揺れていたいよ -off vocal-
Track by track analysis:
6 – 絆の鳥
“Kizuna no Tori” with a chill out sound lending a lot of its dreamy sound to pulsing synths, atmospheric synths and sweet acoustic guitar riffs.
The verses flow in a quiet fashion, putting the focus on the vocals, slowly building up to the chorus.
The chorus is easily the best part of this song both instrumental and vocals wise. It is insanely groovy, much thanks to the bouncy bass line and beat.
There are also those beautiful, distant guitar licks in the background adding a lot of color to this song.
Vocals are off the charts in this song, with particular emphasis in the chorus section. The collective falsetto, the sweet high notes and the consistent, confident mid-tones.
VAZZY were on point in their performance, making this entry their best group song to date.
7 – 揺れていたい
A tropical synth emulating a marimba sets the tone for “Yurete itai”.
The song counts with funky guitar riffs, playful, summery piano melodies, sweet synths and a punchy bass line on top of a simple bass line.
The verses are bright and gentle, making the best of the awesome vocal lineup for this song.
The build up for the chorus is pretty smooth, leading to a simple chorus overflowing of good vibes, riding on top of a really comfortable tempo.
Vocals wise this lineup is the best you could get within VAZZY. The range is there, the consistency is there. The technique, the harmonies, the comfort and charisma. Shigaki, Kobayashi and Horie were absolutely flawless in this song.
A performance that you to revisit time and time again.
Final considerations
VAZZY’s “BLUE” is quite the massive improvement over their past releases.
The group went the minimalistic electronica route for this release as a whole, leading to 2 of the best performances they’ve pulled off since debut.
Kizuna no Tori has a nostalgic vibe to it brought to the table by those distant guitar licks and Yurete itai is quite the upbeat, uptempo tune coming from a group that aren’t necessarily known for this type of music.
I love the fact that, for this release, things toned down and the focus was put on delivering a good, consistent sound but never stealing the focus from VAZZY’s vocals, group that has the best vocals in the VAZZROCK franchise.
The bounce and punch in the bass lines had me going, jamming along to these tracks in those beautiful summery soundscapes.
Hard to pick a favorite in this release as both the group song and the trio were thoroughly entertaining and, easily, VAZZY’s best work to date.
One thing is for certain, both songs bring good vibes, a nostalgic summer soundscape and powerful, smooth vocals on top.
VAZZY’s “BLUE” is one hell of an impressive single.
BLUE is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
Source: Animate Online
[…] “Yurete itaiyo” arrived to add variety into their repertoire bringing in bubbly, summery vibes to the spotlight and betting on an overall higher-key oriented vocal performance. […]