Uniolla -- UNIOLLA

 

I didn't have the greatest day so I've been licking my wounds to a certain extent but knowing myself, I probably won't start to get over things until I wake up tomorrow morning. Such is life. However, what's been an aural and musical balm over the past several minutes has been an album that was released late last year by a supergroup of sorts.

At first, I was just going to do the one track from Uniolla's first album from November 2021, "UNIOLLA", "Hate ni wa"（果てには...In The End） but listening to another couple of songs from the album at the Love Psychedelico website, and yup that will give listeners a clue as to who is in Uniolla, I decided to at least devote the article to "UNIOLLA". The band consists of Love Psychedelico's vocalist and guitarist Kumi, her vocalist/guitarist husband Motoaki Fukanuma（深沼元昭）from the rock band Plagues, bassist Koji Hayashi（林幸治）from Triceratops, and drummer Hideaki Iwanaka（岩中英明）from Barbars.

My impression of the album is merely from the three songs that are going to be featured here (all created by Fukanuma), but "UNIOLLA" sounds like some very relaxed shoegazer or dream pop. It's like the type of music that one would love to hear on a spring day in an old refurbished house, and the videos are all based in such an abode with the band performing away in various rooms. Going to "Hate ni wa" above, it's an introspective and gentle ballad about what could be at the end of all things. There is no answer but hopefully the significant other is there by one's side. Seeing Kumi playing the keyboard on the carpet while the scene is all done in dramatically fuzzy black-and-white adds to the wistfulness of it all. As well, the higher pitch in her delivery compared to her slightly drawly one in Love Psychedelico is quite remarkable.

"A Perfect Day" is a folksy depiction of what a perfect day would be...something that definitely wasn't the case for me today, but at least I'm glad that other people could have them. Not sure if that is indeed a mandolin being played, but its inclusion makes the song very friendly and approachable. The image of the band just jamming away in the living room feels as if a party of good friends got together and everyone's invited.

The final track that I'm showing here is "Zettai" (絶対...Absolutely), and it's also an upbeat love song in which someone is asking that their lover provide that stability that the word zettai hints at, even at the risk of it coming across as hollow. The protagonist is one who has confessed to a lot of mistakes and hopefully their significant other can be the one to provide the absolute in happiness and love.