THREE1989 -- Private Castle

 

I only discovered this trio known as THREE1989 earlier this week but when I first heard their latest single "Private Castle", I got these vibes of them being the ones to take the baton of urban contemporary music from Sing Like Talking.

THREE1989 got their name from the fact that the three members, vocalist Shohey, keyboardist & guitairst Shimo and DJ Datch, were all born in the year 1989. According to their J-Wiki profile, they were all students at the same music school, and starting up the band from 2015, they incorporate the sounds of the 70s, 80s and 90s with a measure of dance music mixed in to create that is contemporary yet nostalgic at the same time.

The trio already have quite a few videos up on YouTube but I did get drawn to their May 3rd 2021 release of "Private Castle", their 2nd digital download single, which is apparently set in Sapporo although according to their website bios, the guys actually hail from Nara, Kumamoto and Osaka. Shohey's soulful vocals and the rich warm beat remind me a lot of Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）from Sing Like Talking, and the melody is given an extra oomph thanks to that jazzy piano and fluegelhorn. As I often do with SLT and Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）music, "Private Castle" is the type of song that I would love to hear in that stylish café in Tokyo.