The KKP file for singer-songwriter Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）isn't very large but from the relatively few songs that I've heard, she's dabbled into both pop and City Pop. Furthermore, her style strikes me as being rather light and eclectic.
Case in point: the B-side to her 2nd single "10 Years" which was released in July 1981. "Tasogare Metro" (Sunset Metro) fulfills both adjectives that I used in the previous paragraph, and as written/composed by Miyahara, there is something that feels like French pop and 1950s pop at the same time. At the same time, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）was also utilizing some of that Gallic flavour in her music but I wouldn't say that Miyahara's style is similar to that of Ohnuki...at least, not from what I'm hearing in this particular song.
"Tasogare Metro" can also be found in Miyahara's debut album "Cat" which came out earlier in May of that year. Have a gander at "Milky Cat" which is also on the LP.
Some of her vocal phrasing sounds like Ohnuki but this is indeed different enough. This is lovely... it's kind of weird that she went five years before making another record. (I know nothing about her career.)
ReplyDeleteHello, Robert. If it hadn't been for this blog, I wouldn't have discovered Miyahara either. Always good to look at that part of the iceberg that's under water.
DeleteFor debut album “Cat," it seems a bit refined and very well done. But I do know that Miyahara was active with a band during her high school years in the 70s. So, before her debut album, I guess she had a few years to develop her skills.
ReplyDeleteProbably so. I've come across a few pop singers who had started out doing something completely different such as hard rock.
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