Masayuki Suzuki feat. Billyrrom -- Magic Hour

One of the coolest elder statesmen of Japanese popular music and the God of Love Songs, Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, has enjoyed plenty of success working with some of the best such as Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）from the band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）for the "Kaguya-sama" theme tunes and 1980s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）for the winning and spirited "Shibuya de Go-ji" (渋谷で5時）.

Suzuki is back in collaborating mode again. This time, he worked with the relatively new band Billyrrom to create the song "Magic Hour", part of Martin's new album "Snazzy" which came out a couple of days ago. With Billyrrom writing and composing "Magic Hour", it's a mysterious and intoxicating R&B tune thanks to the combination of dance club effects, old-style boppy bass and of course, the singer's silky vocals. That introductory rhythm does remind me a bit of a Backstreet Boys song, though.

Billyrrom is a 6-piece band that started up in 2020 with Mol, Rin, TaiseiWatabiki, Shunsuke, Yuta Hara and Leno. All of them hail from Machida City within Metropolitan Tokyo and their music runs the gamut of rock, soul, funk and pop. The unusual band name originates from a melding of famed jazz pianist Bill Evans who they admire and the nomadic Romani people with their music.