Uwanosora -- Autumn Ballad

 

The above is a shot of the World Porters mall in Yokohama. Why? Because the following is a Yokohama-based tune.

One thing that I've mentioned time and again on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is that autumn has often been the season representing the death of romance when it comes to kayo kyoku from the late Showa era. Well, it appears that the trope has been applied to something very Neo-City Pop in the Reiwa era.

I haven't talked about the multi-genre band Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）since 2021 when I noted their "Mujuuryoku no Photographer"（無重力のフォトグラファー）which came out in the summer of 2020. Well, Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）and his band have shown that they like covering 1960s~1980s pop, AOR, City Pop, soul and Música popular brasileira, and I think their "Autumn Ballad", which is due to be released as a digital song anytime as of this writing according to the video explanation, fulfills the City Pop side of things.

Megumi Iemoto（いえもとめぐみ）has been the vocalist for the Uwanosora songs that I've covered so far, but this time, Kadoya hasn't only provided words and music but has also gone behind the mike, sounding a lot like AOR crooner Michael Franks. A song based in Yokohama according to the throw out of the neighbourhood of Honmoku, "Autumn Ballad" is about an imminent breakup between two people with the protagonist not feeling quite ready to do the deed. For the Uwanosora songs I've posted thus far, I've thought of them as being AOR but "Autumn Ballad" is about as close to City Pop as I've heard them.