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| Nagisa Ni Te - Yosuga |
| Nagisa
Ni Te (i.e. On The Beach, named after the Neil Young album) fittingly
embody a kind of slow sunshine, a gentle bliss that is too lively to be
ambient, but too gentle to be rousing. Comprised of ex-Hallelujahs
member Shinji Shibayama, his significant other Masako Takeda, and
assorted drummers (including former High Rise/Fushitsusha (?!??!)
drummer Ikuro Takahashi,) the band has never strayed far from delicate,
whispery, Neil Young inspired fuzzy guitar pop. While this has inevitably resulted in varying degrees of sameness, recent events show mastermind Shibayama trying to push the envelope a bit. 2005's "Dream Sounds" saw them playing around with their back catalog, closing with an epic 20 minute version of "The True Sun" that was downright proggy. While nobody's going to start accusing Nagisa Ni Te of kicking out the jams anytime soon, "Yosuga" (the source of body and mind, or something like that) shows a tad more bite in their approach. Which is not to say they've changed their sound. No, this difference is in the attack: the vocals are a little more pronounced, the guitar a little more aggressive, the songs a little more energetic. Interestingly, the caffeine in the collective bloodstream occasionally beings them closer to Neil Young's band Crazy Horse than before: "ひみつ" ("Secret") has an opening slide part that could come straight from "After The Gold Rush." The track even builds to a crescendo that comes within a stone's throw of rocking, should one be so inclined. But it's all by the rules of the game. Of course, with a band as blissful, relaxed, and generally content as Nagisa Ni Te, to demand challenging ideas would be to unequivocally miss the point. Familiarity is not an inherently problematic element, and the band's been comfortably inhabiting this territory since the beginning. While it can result in a "heard one you've heard 'em all" kind of mindset, that shouldn't imply a lack of quality. After all, when was the last time you got tired of clear, breezy Summer days? |