This album is kind of a late review, being a Reitaisai 11 release. I couldn't find it anywhere on the web so I had to resort to actually buying it myself. Secret Messenger is the name of Yuy's current circle. Yuy used to be known as t=node, back when he made touhou arrangements. Yuy has a pretty unique style of music, utilizing seemingly random sounds and instrument notes at times in addition to long buildups and breakdowns. Since working as Secret Messenger and composing his own music, Yuy has been utilizing vocalists in his music. Overall his style is something that you'll either love or hate. 01 雨の灯 - An Instrumental opening track that's typical of Yuy, with a slow buildup and use of distortion and noise in the breakdown. 02 孤独の残骸 - I really enjoyed the upbeat vocals in this track, but the thing that stood out to be the most was the piano in the background. The drums and guitars are a bit overshadowed by the other instruments though, but otherwise it was overall good. 03 IX - A guest track by Karita. It doesn't quite fit in with the first two tracks, as it is quite bassy and different from Yuy's style, except for the way that song ends. 04 lettel - Nice.. the vocals of かづきん complements the random instrumental sounds and noise of Yuy very well. Slow paced and relaxing; I like it. 05 Photon - Another guest track by Karita. Can't say I liked this one either. 06 Night ballade - Awesome instrumental composition by Yuy, and very typical of his older style of music. I really miss this style of music, as it was much more common back during his days of t=node. 07 世界の終わりとワンダーランド - Beautiful vocals by tomo! This album is the first time that I've heard Tomo's vocals and I hope that she'll show up again in Yuy's next album. Yuy brings his excellent instrumentals once again, especially with the pianos and noise in the background! The buildup in this song is subtle, with more instruments added in, and previous instrumentals going faster. Everything in this song just fits very well together, and I'd love to hear more of this from Yuy. 08 星の欠片 - Oh wow... just when I thought the last track couldn't be topped. This song is much slower paced ballad compared to the previous song. 09 ダブル - The streak continues with another great song. I think I'm starting to run out of words to describe songs with :(. 10 OracleMachine - Hmm! The last guest arrangement by Karita. This time, I actually really like it. It's like a crossover of trance combined with the vocal style found in the previous tracks. I guess this is what japanese trance sounds like? :D 11 Gymnopedie No.1 - A classic piano piece. I've only heard Gymnopedie a few times but this arrangement by E.Satie and Yuy is beautiful. 12 約束の方舟 - The last track of the album, and a good one at that. I really enjoyed the strings that accompanied the vocals here. I'm really suprised by how much I ended up liking this album. When I first listened to the crossfade/preview of the album, I didn't like how it sounded and was a bit hesitant about actually buying it considering that Yuy's previous album was just merely okay as well. But for about $15, It was a a great discovery and a chance to share it with others.
I found that I ended up liking all of the tracks on the album except for #3 and #5, which were guest tracks by Karita. For those who are already familiar with Yuy's music, Last Lovers is an excllent continuation of his music. For those who are new to it, I highly recommend listening to this album as an introduction to his music. I've said earlier that his music style is either going to be love or hate, but I have a feeling that most people will actually end up loving it in Last Lovers. Oh, did I mention that the album art is really pretty? 5/5 - As good as it gets
1 Comment
Joanna
8/8/2014 05:43:55 am
Awesome critique Jimmy! :D
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Welcome to The Emotional Skyscraper, a blog for touhou/doujin music recommendations, games, visual novels, and other otaku related oddities.
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Games: Atelier Escha & Logy Anime: None Emoskyis a full time otaku & audiophile who enjoys listening to Touhou music, playing doujin games, and reading visual novels. For more information, visit the About page. Categories
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