Yoshiyuki Ohsawa -- in-Fin-ity

Yoshiyuki Ohsawa (大沢誉志幸) is a singer that I got acquainted with fairly recently, about 6 months ago or so. That's when I first heard his most famous tune from 1984, "Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru" (そして僕は途方に暮れる). It struck me as a poignant midtempo ballad with a touch of electro, which I found a nice mix. Seems he debuted in June 1983 with "Kanojo ni wa Wakaranai (Why don't you know)" (彼女には判らない), but even before then he was composing songs for Kenji Sawada and Akina Nakamori. Growing up with bluegrass and soul music like Bob Dylan and Otis Redding, he eventually made a switch to R&B (think Prince) and became one of the leading artists of the genre in Japan while it was still fresh. His non-musical influences include Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Hitchcock, and Pablo Picasso (per "in-Fin-ity" booklet). The reason why I mention this is because it's a pretty trippy album, much like the individuals mentioned above, and crosses many boundaries. The cover above kinda gives it away. I decided to get it after spotting at on a shelf at a local Tower Records store based on the strength of its leading single "Kanojo wa future-rhythm" (彼女はfuture-rhythm). I must say, I really hit the jackpot here.

"Kanojo wa future-rhythm", as a title suggests, is a futuristic Electro-Funk track. The first time I heard it, I was just sleepy and bored while browsing Youtube for new music to listen to, and it really woke me up. It's always nice to hear a song with a solid bass line and beat, and the arrangement is just flawless. Speaking of arrangement, the person of interest here is Hoppy Kamiyama (ホッピー神山), a keyboardist from an eclectic 80's band PINK, who pretty much arranged the whole album and provided all the quirky synths. Ohsawa and Hoppy would later collaborate as a composer and arranger for Masayuki Suzuki's strange and haunting debut single, "Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu". Two other PINK members participated on the album, Hajime Okano (岡野ハジメ) on bass and Kameo Yakabe (矢壁カメオ; also known as Atsunobu Yakabe) on drums. Combined with Ohsawa's stylish vocals which get acrobatic during the verses, the song just feels very well-rounded. And yes, I'd dance to it if I could.

"Lady Vanish" was definitely inspired by that Hitchcock's "Lady Vanishes" and even absorbs the film's thrill into the sound. I also really enjoyed this track and its rapid, pounding hammer-like rhythm. It's tricky for me to describe genre-wise, as it feels like an R&B, rock, and electro track all at the same time. The rock part mostly comes from the noisy guitars and Ohsawa's sharp delivery. There's also a piercing sax solo in the middle that shook me off guard just when I thought I could predict the next course of the song.

It's interesting that the title track, "inFinity", is a slow one when compared to the overall speed of the album. Rather, it drags us through an alternative universe for nearly 6 minutes with those spacy synths with haunting piano and sax lines weaving in and out. And despite the title, the lyrics actually deal with a fin of an old relationship. The melody is also quite melancholic, and the final notes sound so surreal and uncertain, giving off an image of someone looking back onto regretful past and forward to an undesirable future.

Track 6, "Replica Model" (レプリカ・モデル), is a catchy electro-funk number with a rich arrangement. It's probably my second favorite song on the album after the opening track. I enjoyed the whole robotic feel that the flat back-synth creates. And again, more hypnotic screechy sax. Can't get enough of it. With the whole density of the song, Ohsawa still stays on top of it with his powerful voice and never loses control. I imagine this one would be tough one to tackle at karaoke if it was ever included on the list.

Track 7, "Saisho no Namida Saigo no Kiss" (最初の涙 最後の口吻) is a refreshing change of pace after adrenaline-inducing preceding three tracks. I only reviewed one of them, but this album has a conceptual sound and I like highlighting stuff that sticks out, even if just a bit. There's enough electro in the arrangement to keep it consistent with the rest of the songs, but with the ballad melody and Ohsawa's singing it's more down-to-earth. It's nice to hear a mellow side of his voice. He can both rock and soothe so convincingly. This song has always popped up on my Sansa Fuze in shuffle mode while it was raining out so every time I hear that synthesizer riff I keep thinking of falling rain.

The closing track, "Koi ni just can't wait" (恋にjust can’t wait) subdues the synths that rule the rest of the album and by bringing guitars and bass to the forefront. The melody and the lyrics are also the most joyful of the bunch. Catchiness all around. The album's booklet mentions Yutaka Ozaki singing in the back-chorus, but this is one of the few tracks where you can actually hear him.

If you want to hear the other three songs which I didn't review, then head over to oh homare's Youtube channel who specializes in all things Yoshiyuki Ohsawa. Couldn't track down how the album performed on Oricon, but I figure it just suffered from the lack of promotion among other reasons unknown to me. Nothing but rave reviews online though. Here's one from Technology Pops site that I partially used as reference for this entry. It's not often that I come across albums like this, so I'm glad that I trusted my guts and bought it. Started my Ohsawa collection on a happy note.