Taeko Ohnuki -- Hitorigurashi no Yousei-tachi（ひとり暮らしの妖精たち）

 

I kinda figured that singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）would delve into the sub-genre of Fashion Music, admittedly a name that I kinda ran with after seeing one newspaper or magazine introduce it years ago to describe the Japanese version of Baroque pop. The late Chika Ueda（上田知華）with her group Karyobin was the poster child, but with my image of Ohnuki from the late 80s onwards being that of a chanteuse of all things whimsical pop, she could easily have a piano and strings backing her up in the recording studio or music hall.

Well, no strings attached here but there is still something old-world-ish and whimsical in her November 1986 single "Hitorigurashi no Yousei-tachi" (Fairies Living Alone). This time around, Ohnuki provided just the lyrics while Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Saeko Suzuki（鈴木さえ子）worked on melody and arrangement. It's a hypnotically relaxing song with the undulating rhythm and then the bluesy sax later on. But of course, Ohnuki's light and clear vocals make all the difference.

"Hitorigurashi no Yousei-tachi" was used in a Family Mart convenience store commercial as well as for an NTV interview special. As the title might imply, there is something quite fantastical about the song although I'm not quite sure about the significance of fairies living alone. Mind you, if those fairies are indeed living alone, they may need to rely on the konbini more than usual.