Yuki Nakayamate -- Silhouette Call

 

My first two articles on singer-songwriter Yuki Nakayamate（なかやまて由希）were put up on December 2019 and February 2021. "Ange Blanc"（アンジェ・ブラン）from her 1983 album "Octopussy" and "Ijiwaru Shiokaze"（いぢわる潮風）from her debut 1981 release "Hold Me Tender" talk of two different styles by Nakayamate. The latter was more City Pop/AOR while the former went into a techno-tango style. Comparing the two, I figured that the singer's discography, as brief as it was, would be an interesting one to explore.

Unfortunately, I only found this out within the last hour or so. Nakayamate may have passed away on December 23rd 2022 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 62 according to one source, music writer Takashi Ikegami（池上尚志）on his Twitter feed. I haven't read or heard any other news confirming or denying this, so if anyone else can let me know, that would be appreciated.

I found this other track from "Octopussy" titled "Silhouette Call". I can't really conceive what a silhouette call is, but the song sounds silkily cool with that "...air of sophistication and finesse..." that uploader yaoiboi92 stated to describe the album. There are the keyboards and the bass from City Pop land that reminded me somewhat of a couple of tracks on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Miss M", but the tropical Latin and the floaty arrangement accompanying Nakayamate's soft-as-cotton vocals make me think more of Resort Pop somewhere in a Jamaican resort. As was the case with "Ange Blanc", "Silhouette Call" was written by Tetsuya Chiaki（ちあき哲也）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）.