A
couple of nights ago, I had a great surprise with a song called “Seikan
Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~”, which was recorded by an aidoru called Michiru
Hoshino (星野みちる). After listening to it two or three
times, I quickly learned, thanks to the video, that “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night
Voyage~”, which was originally the b-side to her “Ame no Naka no Dreamer”,
ended as the promotional song for her second full-lenght album “E.I.E.N
Voyage”, which was released in July 2014.
According
to generasia, Michiru Hoshino is an ex-AKB48 member who graduated from the
group back in 2007 with plans to become a singer/songwriter. Based on that, it’s
obvious that she didn’t experience what AKB48 became after it finally reached
the top spot on the Oricon charts in late 2009.
When
I listened to “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~”, some things caught my attention.
In a more general view, it’s a bubbly pop song that’s not over-processed like
the majority of today’s aidoru music. Thing is, the arrangement is airy and can
breath at some points. Also, the sparse piano twinkles are a lovely addition.
The
video is also a nice piece of “art”, as, although simple, it drinks from the “retro”
fountain in a very interesting way. Somehow, it made me think about the 70s and
80s, when the capitalist societies shared a dream about what the future in the
21st century would be like. This dream, which is called “retrofuturism” by the
specialists, shows how the futuristic beliefs of not-so-long-ago were more on
point with the society of its time than with the future itself. It was something
like “imagining the future based on what we already have”.
In
a more specific way, I just loved the silly dance routines performed by Michiru (her faces were a mixture of fun and shame while doing them), and also when she acted as if
the yellow game boy was a cell phone. In the end, although light and happy, the
video, plus the song, shared some melancholy... no, maybe nostalgy is the right
word... or both melancholy and nostalgy.
The
“E.I.E.N Voyage” album reached #240 on the Oricon charts.
I gotta say, Marcos, that I like this song although I had never seen nor heard of Michiru Hoshino during or after AKB. The song and video do have that retro-future vibe to it, and I especially like the piano. Also, I must admit that in all honesty, I used to actually dance like her at the discos back in my university days (just a couple of moves though) :)
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoy some of the tracks from this album, the singles in particular. But I prefer her previous album "Hoshi Ga Michiru" as a whole. It has a fantastic cover of Apogee & Perigee's Sinku Kiss.
ReplyDelete