The last article that I wrote for Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）the singer was just over a couple of years ago in 2017 for the song "Hitonatsu no Tapestry"（ひと夏のタペストリー）. Strangely enough, my first Aran article in 2 years is going to be devoted to the album that it came out on "Fuyuu Kuukan" (Floating Spaces).
Yes, after seeing a number of other people gleefully proclaiming their acquisition of the singer-songwriter's 3rd album (May 1983) over the past few years in which folks outside of Japan discovered the treasure of Japanese City Pop and their own brand of AOR, I finally got my own copy of "Fuyuu Kuukan" in the last few weeks. Certainly, because of the surging popularity of this album in recent times, I think that cover has become one of the more recognizable in City Pop.
Strangely enough, though, "Fuyuu Kuukan" can't really be listed as wholly City Pop/AOR. There are tracks such as the aforementioned "Hitonatsu no Tapestry", "I'm In Love" and "Midnight Wanderers", which I've already given their own articles, that do belong in those categories. However, the other songs on "Fuyuu Kuukan" are far more in the pop and even New Wave genres. In fact, I should be slapping myself upside the head since the look of the cover has made that rather obvious. Does that photo of insouciant Aran sitting in that icy-cool blue grid room with the title in computer font look anything like something for a City Pop album?!
Brief self-flagellation aside, the City Pop tracks have been covered so let's get straight to the New Wave-y pop. The first track for "Fuyuu Kuukan" and Aran's 2nd single which came out on the same day as the album is "Body to Body". It starts out strangely reminiscent of a Mike & The Mechanics song and reflects that album cover as Aran on a night out and getting really hungry like the wolf (inside 80s music joke) for that guy. Nothing City Pop about this one with those hard-hitting synths and percussion. I can only imagine Aran stepping out into that disco wearing very angular clothes and blush that goes up like daggers up her cheeks.
"Fuyuu Kuukan" was produced and arranged by Masatoshi Nishimura（西村麻聡）, later of the rock group Fence of Defense which would begin its time from 1985. His future band mates, guitarist Kenji Kitajima（北島健二）and drummer Wataru Yamada（山田亘）, were also a couple of the musicians helping in the endeavour. Both Aran (lyrics) and Nishimura (music) would be responsible for most of the songwriting for the album's tracks. Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）would provide the music for "Midnight Wanderers".
I first heard "Hannya"（般若...The Horned Demoness）on Van Paugam's YouTube radio for City Pop and my initial impression was "Why?!". The folks who were giving their play-by-play comments on the side were also expressing the same sentiments. This is as far away from the genre as a bacon-wrapped steak is from a vegetarian's dinner table. The nightmarish tone brought about from "Hannya" is totally on purpose as Aran sings/shrieks out the story of a woman consumed with rage and jealousy. Reminders of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Rap Phenomena" and Nina Hagen's "Smack Jack" come to my fragile little mind. Not so much New Wave as it is avant-garde.
"Shaku na Yesterday"（しゃくなイエスタディ...Bye-Bye Yesterday）is the one other song that was not composed by Nishimura but by Masanori Sasaji（笹路正徳）as a playful techno-swing tune. Aran is enjoying her time in a bubble bath with a martini as the hours and minutes tick away before she dumps another boyfriend by the wayside. Obviously, her hannya is no longer an issue.
The final track from the original 1983 LP is "Baby, Don't You Cry Anymore". It's a tune which kinda weaves between jazzy torch song and pop/rock ballad, and is the one track on "Fuyuu Kuukan" that has me thinking of all those Journey and Chicago love songs.
This is actually Track 4 on the album but I've saved it for last. "Dilemma ~ Ni-Juu-Go-sai no Yuutsu"（ジ・レ・ン・マ－25才の憂鬱...Depression at 25）seems to be about an office lady who's already going through a mid-life crisis of sorts in her middle 20s.
"Dilemma" is wrapping up things here since I found out an interesting story about this one from the J-Wiki profile on "Fuyuu Kuukan". The original 1983 LP had the above version recorded, a slow-cooking New Wave tune (with all of the blips and blops) with Aran fairly cooing her own lyrics as if she were Deborah Harry of Blondie.
However, when "Fuyuu Kuukan" got its first CD treatment in 1988, the below version of "Dilemma" was inserted in place without any announcement. Though the lyrics and songwriting team of Aran and Nishimura were intact, the music was dramatically different. It still had that New Wave feeling but with some more pop octane added. It's basically a different tune altogether. According to Nishimura (via an entry on Aran's blog), the original "Dilemma" had been due to be made into a B-side for what I assume was the single "Body to Body", but as it turned out, that honour was given to "Hitonatsu no Tapestry" instead. With the new CD version of "Dilemma", the original was left for posterity on the LP version for years. But with the release by Tower Records of the remastered CD in 2018, both the original is back with the poppier 1988 take brought in as a bonus track.
"Fuyuu Kuukan" is the mix of styles and I was quite surprised when I first listened to it. Thanks to the future Fence of Defense and Aran herself, the singer was given a lot of space and opportunity to give her vocals a workout. This album makes for an intriguing contrast with her next album in 1984 "More Relax" which keeps things solidly in City Pop/AOR with the guys in famed fusion band Casiopea handling the reins.
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