Ruiko Kurahashi -- Self-Disgust

 

I posted the article for Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）debut album "Without Sugar" back in 2019 and through that post along with other individual articles for tracks, I've been able to cover almost the entire album including the previous Ruiko post for "Ku-gatsu no Mado"（九月の窓）a few months ago. But there is one last song from the album to devote this space to.

That would be the second-last track on Side B, "Self-Disgust". Kurahashi never struck me as the most outgoing person but on seeing that title, I kinda thought that she should have had more self-confidence in herself. Happily though the song isn't a self-destructive raunchy rock tune...as if I could ever imagine the demure Ruiko smashing mirrors in her home and swearing up a storm like that poor kid in "The Exorcist". Instead, it's a very intimate and playful little ditty which comes across as if it had been recorded right then and there in her apartment with the singer sporting one guitar and that's it. Indeed, she herself wrote the lyrics with Yoko Ejima（江島陽子）behind the music. It stands out against her lush trackmates of Fashion Music feeling as the most minimalist track on the album.

From what I could get from Kurahashi's lyrics, it seems like someone was drinking a little too much and spewed out some darkness about herself. Luckily, the singing and the overall arrangement were plenty skippy enough to keep things nice and light. But with this song, I can finally close the chapter on "Without Sugar".