Listening to "Songs," it's clearwhy Shibayama is so well-liked in his home country, and so worthy ofnotice here. The music of Nagisa Ni Te is often thrown in with thegenre called folk-psyche, and although I hate labels, it's a fittingone. Slow, languid guitar lines develop a firm structure, building to adramatic crescendo of voice, guitar, and drums. It's a productivepairing, Shibayama and his partner in Nagisa, Masako Takeda. The musicis soaring, powerful, and the vocals are haunting, though I can'tunderstand a word. The melodies are impressive, too, reminiscent ofAmerican post-rock music without copying or being derivative. TheHallelujahs, by comparison, are more psychedelic rock, but equally asaccomplished for the time they were recording (1985-88). The unreleasedtrack included here, 'I'll Follow Soon, No Matter Where You Are' is asurreal number, sounding like CSNY mixed with the theme to Top Gun, butstill a great little pop tune. A great introduction to those who havenever heard of Shibayama or his music, "Songs" is the kind of legacyany musician would be proud of, as well as a strong collection ofunreleased tracks for true fans.
samples:
- The True Sun (Live)
- I'll Follow Soon, No Matter Where You Are (The Hallelujahs)
- Far Cry
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