Original Love -- Zeroset（ゼロセット）

Happy Civic Holiday to my fellow Torontonians and Happy Monday to everyone else! Last week, commenter Michael gave me his list of his own Happy Tunes in response to my list and one of those tunes was the catchy "Mikakunin no Superstar"（未確認のスーパースター）by Shin Rizumu（シンリズム）.

Another tune on his Happy list was Original Love's "Zeroset", and unlike the other KKP articles for singer-songwriter Takao Tajima's（田島貴男）splendid works, this song isn't from the 1990s but just from early last year due to its inclusion in his 17th album "bless You!" from February 2019.

No surprise that Michael has "Zeroset" on his list since it is very much an "Up with People" type of song. It was only yesterday that I wrote about "Kodoku no Marathon Runner"（孤独のマラソン・ランナー）by the folk band The Natashar Seven（ザ・ナターシャー・セブン）, and like that one, "Zeroset" also uses the metaphor of competitive running to get folks up and at 'em! But instead of the 1970s country-folksy melody of "Kodoku no Marathon Runner", "Zeroset" is a 21st-century driving pop piece with a touch of synth and a rolling thunder of percussion and bass. Furthermore, this time, the sport here might be more about the 100-metre dash rather than the 42-kilometre marathon. The important thing is that Tajima wants folks to leave the tough times and experiences behind, reset everything including the mind, and then once the starter's pistol goes off, run like Usain Bolt.🏃

I wouldn't be surprised if "Zeroset" becomes an athlete's go-to song for pumping the psyche up as "Kodoku no Marathon Runner" did for one fellow on that NHK Sunday sports broadcast. Hey, if the video is any indication, you can possibly end up in really cool duds and a great convertible in Tokyo if you go for the gusto. Tajima must be really lucky with the vehicles considering the car he's driving in there and the automobile he's got in the 1994 "The Rover" from "Kaze no Uta wo Kike"（風の歌を聴け）.