SPY -- Taiyo to Mannequin（太陽とマヌカン）

 

Well, it was about a year ago when I first discovered that City Pop princess Nanako Sato（佐藤奈々子）had opted to go into another direction with her music. That's right...she formed a band SPY in 1980, a group which veered more toward the new New Wave and synthpop. So, last year, I could only find one song from their lone self-titled album represented on YouTube, "Hello Mr. SPY".

Since then though, I was told by one commenter that the remainder of the songs from "SPY" have apparently gotten onto YouTube. That includes the second track on Side B, "Taiyo to Mannequin" (The Sun and the Mannequin). Sato wrote and composed the tune which begins briefly with something approximating her old City Pop and there's even some fusion being filtered through some of those synthesizers. However, there is always that haze hovering overhead signaling that indeed, SPY is a different animal before some bouncy ska makes its presence known. Meanwhile, Sato's voice gets into a rather jumpy and slightly hiccoughy rhythm, almost approaching the style of future pop star Cyndi Lauper.