paris match -- Round 12

 

There's something quite classic movie poster-like about the cover for urban groovy duo paris match's most recent original album "Round 12" which was released in June 2020. With composer and arranger Yosuke Sugiyama（杉山洋介）looking tuckered out in the ring corner while vocalist and lyricist Mari Mizuno（ミズノマリ）showing off the final round of the match, there is a feeling of anticipation with what this final tilt and my first listen to "Round 12" will bring. Even the writing on the cover has that movie credit structure and so that I include everyone, lyricist and former member of paris match, Tai Furusawa（古澤大）, is in the mix as well.

In addition to the fact that I've savored the newer form of groovy urban contemporary from paris match, I bought "Round 12" because I was hooked, line and sinker, by the coolness of one of the tracks from this new album, "Amai Yokan"（甘い予感）. After listening to this one on YouTube for the first time, it was a simple task to track down the album and pull the trigger on my wallet.

Well, giggity! The first track from "Round 12" , "Sayonara Seaside"（さよならシーサイド）, also has a music video which is very much influenced by all that Vaporwave of yesteryear. J-Wiki mentions that paris match generates an atmosphere of ennui and "Sayonara Seaside" is quite relaxing although not quite as relaxing as I think the word "ennui" would sound. I don't envision any chaise lounge in a salon but just a blanket on a beach while the sun is going down. The synthesizers involved do seem to remind me of some of that 80s AOR.

Track 2 "Stardust"（スターダスト）doesn't have anything to do with the Hoagy Carmichael jazz standard but is the band's shoutout to Ziggy Stardust himself, aka David Bowie, although the way Furusawa's lyrics have it, it's more of a general love for the late superstar with mentions of the man's name, "Starman" and "Modern Love". Sugiyama's arrangement is definitely not Bowie as we get some 21st-century Japanese fusion and/or City Pop along with another trippy video. I do love the horns by Satoshi Sano.

Well, if "Stardust" is the Bowie tribute, then "Mr. Deckard" is even more self-explanatory, and what's more, it was very nice for the band to provide English translations of the lyrics in the video above. Yep, this is truly Future Funk as Mizuno sings, possibly from the point of view of an unknown Replicant, her love for the Blade Runner known as Rick Deckard. At first, I thought Mizuno was actually channeling Rachael but I was evidently wrong there according to the words. In any case, "Mr. Deckard" is indeed funky and as I listened to "Round 12", I had the observation that the vocalist was sounding quite a bit like Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）from Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）.

Some mysterious The Style Council vibes when I listen to "Appartement no Onna"（アパルトマンの女...The Woman in the Apartment） which is ironic since the band named itself after a song by The Style Council. It's got some Latin rhythms pumping out of the synths with some sharp horn accompaniment as it describes the life of a lady in what I think is an old apartment in Paris. However, the message is that the building may be on the verge of getting demolished.

One more song that I'll introduce here is the final track "Billion" whose first verses sound like an episode of "Doctor Who" when a new companion comes aboard. However, Sugiyama's arrangement makes the song like a 70s funk fest on a Saturday night. It's all very cool and inviting. And frankly, when they do announce the new 14th Doctor, perhaps a change into someone appropriately funky while sporting one heck of a leather coat would be kinda nice.

Still got the remaining half of "Round 12" to do but I'll leave that for a future article. In any case, I've been enjoying the smooth sounds of paris match once more and I'm happy that they're still around keeping the groove going.