Natsu Summer -- Tropical Winter

 

Unsurprisingly as we Torontonians approach spring, the weather has been fairly weird recently. The temperatures over the last few days have been freezing so that we need the gloves and scarves but then this coming Sunday, we may be breaking records by hitting at least 16 degrees Celsius, and then we start falling down below zero again into next week. Mind you, the good news is that the mayor has announced that the annual festivals in our fair city will be returning after a two-year absence due to COVID. And that all starts with the St. Patrick's Day parade in a couple of weeks.

In keeping in line with the weirdness, I've just put up an Xmas song. Yep, a little more than a couple of months after the Yuletide, here is another Christmas tune, but only because I hadn't listened closely enough to the lyrics and I had assumed that the title of the song was "Tropical Winter" for that first song. But actually that is the title of the December 2016 EP released by City Pop/reggae specialist Natsu Summer.

The proper title for what is the opening track to "Tropical Winter" is "Tropical Christmas"（トロピカル・クリスマス）which was written and composed by Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）from the band Ryusenkei（流線形）. And indeed, Natsu Summer does ask listeners about their Christmas plans in that dreamy arrangement of City Pop and reggae. My initial assumption was that with the "Tropical Winter" title, we would all be getting reminded of getting out of the winter soon enough and thinking about traveling to those tropical climes.

About halfway through the above video, the second track comes into play, "Issho ni Yume wo Mimasho"（一緒に夢を見ましょう...Let's Dream Together） which brings in more of the City Pop element and some introspection before it suddenly fades away at the end. Once again, it's Takiguchi behind words and music. Might I also compliment Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）on that gorgeous cover!