CHiLi GiRL -- Summer Romance Keikaku（サマーロマンス計画）

 

I was waiting for the appropriate time to spring this one up for summer, and so why not today? It is the first Friday following the beginning of Summer 2024, after all. "Summer Romance Keikaku" (Plans for a Summer Romance) was singer-songwriter CHiLi GiRL's July 2023 digital single, and if I may be so bold, allow me to directly lift the English description of her and her song from her website: 

CHiLi GiRL, a spicy and charming next-generation pop project by Shinobu Kawashima, a shamisen player who connects traditional performing arts and city music

The song is a shamisen x samba house that evokes the excitement of the coming of summer, featuring Gento Miyano, a composer and arranger who has worked with various artists including Philosophy Dance! The melody blends the fragrance of the sea breeze and the sweet and sour feelings of a maiden, while the oriental dance beat and spicy shamisen ambience create a dramatic summer number that cannot help but make one's heart beat with excitement.

Indeed, "Summer Romance Keikaku" evokes a light and frothy adventure along the side of many a beach anywhere whether it be Shonan or Copacabana. The samba is strong with this one, and of course, the shamisen does get pulled out in the middle, and even some rap. As mentioned above, Gento Miyano（宮野弦士）, who I also noted for Galali's（がらり）"Sayonara wa Mayonaka ni"（さよならは真夜中に）a few months earlier, handled the arrangement. The song kinda pulls in sounds and feelings from the late 1970s, the early 2000s and now...for me, at least.

CHiLi GiRL -- Secret Secret

 

Near the end of summer last year, I posted up an article regarding the singer-songwriter and shamisen player CHiLi GiRL and her song "Tokai no Mori"（都会の森）, a 2022 single combining some of the old and the new via Neo-City Pop and late 80s/early 90s urban contemporary. The song was a part of a Cunimondo Takiguchi series of CD compilations.

Well, I'm happy to say that CHiLi GiRL is still chill and continuing on with her music. In fact, her latest single "Secret Secret" came out only last month. However, instead of it being a blend of City Pop from today and yesteryear, I think the peppy "Secret Secret" has more to do with a version of Shibuya-kei from what I've heard although the music video is very much of the cityscape. According to the "Tokyo's Coolest Sound" website, Reiji Okii（沖井礼二）of the Cymbals and Tweedees has given the song his seal of approval.

As much as I love new forms of City Pop coming aboard, Shibuya-kei in the 2020s is not a bad proposition either. 

CHiLi GiRL -- Tokai no Mori（都会の森）

 

For folks who have never been to Tokyo, the general impression might be that Japan's capital city was the inspiration for Coruscant: nothing but wall-to-wall buildings and concrete. And to be honest, looking at the city from the top floors of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings in West Shinjuku, Ewen McGregor and Hayden Christensen probably would have said "Whoa! Lucas was right about one thing!". However having said that, there are some large patches of green within Tokyo including Komazawa Park in the western end of town as you can see above.

Yesterday, Van Paugam put out a tweet regarding the September 27th release of a third part, "Interchange", in a series of CD compilations by Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）titled "City Music Tokyo". The theme for this disc is music that one can drive to. There are a few tracks that I'm familiar with such as Blue Peppers' "Believe In Love" but a lot of them are new to me including this song.

I never heard of CHiLi GiRL before last night, but according to this December 2022 article in "Tokyo Weekender", this has been a collaborative solo project undertaken by singer-songwriter and shamisen player Shinobu Kawashima（川嶋志乃舞）. Active since June 2020, she has put out her brand of "spicy and charming" music through a number of singles and an album thus far, and one track from that June 2022 album "MEBAE", "Tokai no Mori" (Forest in the City) is the one that has been selected for "Interchange".

Written and composed by CHiLi GiRL, "Tokai no Mori" has been charming the socks off me with her sweet vocals, its mix of the current spacey incarnation of City Pop and some feelings of the genre from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Of course, the singer's shamisen is involved as well, and the combination of the traditional and the groovy modern reminds me a little of Yutaka Yokokura's（横倉裕）work. Overall, it's fresh and cheerful, something for the Sunday morning stroll or even just waking up leisurely from bed.