Tomoko Ohmoto -- Spell ~ Kagami yo, Kagami ~（Spell ～鏡よ、鏡～）

 

Nice to hear from singer-songwriter Tomoko Ohmoto（大本友子）once again after so long. The only other article that I have written about her was way back in September 2013 and the reason is that I really only knew her for one song, "Anata no Mama de" （あなたのままで）, a truly mellow ballad that had been the jingle for a Philip Morris cigarette commercial that I used to see on Japanese TV. She sounded so familiar to Miki Imai（今井美樹）that I had assumed that it was indeed Imai behind the song.

Well, I found this "new" Ohmoto song which really stood out for me since it is quite the opposite in tone from the ethereal "Anata no Mama de". It's a snappy urban contemporary tune from the 1990s called "Spell ~ Kagami yo, Kagami ~" (Mirror, Mirror) which is a track on her 1996 album "News ni Naranai Koibito-tachi"（ニュースにならない恋人たち...The Un-Newsworthy Lovers）.

Again, I can't help but hear the Imai in her voice but indeed she and "Spell" are great. Written and composed by the singer, it's got that funky groove thanks to that bass, and those cool horns and that wacka-wacka guitar bring in the nostalgic 1960s and (relatively) contemporary 1990s to create some of that Shibuya-kei sound. Just imagine the evil Queen going out for a night out on the town instead of going after Snow White, and only needing to touch up the make-up a little via one of those mirrored surfaces of a modern Shibuya building.