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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Showing posts with label HALLCA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HALLCA. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

HALLCA -- burning in blue

 

If I'm not mistaken, that's the paper coaster/proof of reservation that I received when I went to see The Manhattan Transfer at Tokyo's Blue Note years ago. That was a fun performance and it was one of the last years in which the long-running team of Tim Hauser, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, and Cheryl Bentyne was all together. Hauser passed away in 2014 at the age of 72. I will definitely do a ROY article on The Transfer in the near future.

But keeping that colour of blue in mind, I'm going to go with HALLCA's "burning in blue". It is a track from the former leader of aidoru group Especia when she released her first full album "Villa" in September 2019. The album also contains "Complex City".

With lyrics by HALLCA and music by both HALLCA and Rillsoul, "burning in blue" is a simmering and soulful song with some subtle wacka-wacka and bluesy guitars. It makes for a nice cool-down number in the twilight hours. Melodically or vocally, there is no connection with the Especia past of bouncy 80s synthpop fun; HALLCA is just grooving away happily.

Friday, November 20, 2020

HALLCA -- Complex City(コンプレックス・シティー)

 

Kinda figured that when the Neo-City Pop aidoru group Especia broke up in 2017, it wouldn't be just member Monari Wakita(脇田もなり)making it on her own as a solo act (although she had left about a year earlier).

The leader of Especia herself, Haruka Tominaga(冨永悠香), went for the solo career as well once the group ended its run and took on the new stage of HALLCA. In the summer of 2018, she released her first e.p. "Aperitif", and then in September 2019, there was her first full album "Villa"

From "Villa" is "Complex City", which HALLCA wrote and composed herself and shows that the singer gets the vibe and melodies of the current crop of Neo-City Pop. There are quite a few banks of modern synthesizers in there but the feeling also has reminders of 80s right from the top, and I can't help but remember WHAM!'s "Everything She Wants" from time to time as I listen to "Complex City". As well, the arrangement is a throwback to the old Especia sound.

HALLCA released a maxi-single in August this year called "Promise of Summer".