Shiho Nanba -- Aurora ni Kakurete（オーロラに隠れて）

 

Sad to say, but one of the natural phenomena that I have yet to see despite being over half a century old is the Northern Lights. One of my regular students was able to take a trip to the Yukon and braved the very sub-zero weather to witness the spectacular nature of an aurora.

A couple of years ago was the last time that I wrote about singer-songwriter Shiho Nanba（南波志帆）who has been noticed for her whispery voice and some association with the newer J-AOR acts such as Blue Peppers. My article back then was for her 2009 "Pool no Ao wa Uso no Ao"（プールの青は嘘の青）, a Sunshine Pop sort of number that was provided to her by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）of Kirinji（キリンジ）. It wasn't released as a single; instead, it was a track on her "Kimi ni Todoku ka na, Watashi."（君に届くかな、私。...Will I/It Get to You?）indies album.

The mid-teens Nanba would release her first single as a major artist in December 2010, "Aurora ni Kakurete" (Hiding in an Aurora), and rather than the light and mellow stuff, this particular song has more of a bubbly pop flavour reminiscent of Tommy february6. However, it was Takaki's brother, Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）who came up with the melody while YUKI from Judy & Mary wrote the lyrics regarding an adorable Christmas date. The arrangement was handled by Hiroyasu Yano（矢野博康）from the Cymbals, and as mentioned in the "Pool" article, he was the one who advised Nanba to try the whispery voice treatment.

Shiho Nanba -- Pool no Ao wa Uso no Ao（プールの青は嘘の青）

 

I wrote about singer Shiho Nanba（南波志帆）a little over two years ago through her "Cobalt Blue" （コバルトブルー）of 2016, a mellow pop song whipped up by one of the current crop of J-AOR darlings, Blue Peppers（ブルー・ペパーズ）. 

One thing that I found out about Nanba through her J-Wiki bio is that she'd been described as someone with that "magic voice" which was airy but clear. However, she'd initially held onto the mantra that a singer's voice had to be powerful which, considering how she has sounded, gave her a bit of a complex. But then an author and a drummer/music producer by the name of Hiroyasu Yano（矢野博康）from the band known as Cymbals offered some advice in which she ought to just take that breath and sing with a lot of air to help her...somewhat like whispering.

I don't think that Nanba has a voice which will blow out speakers in any concert hall, and that's perfectly fine since I find her singing perfectly fine. From what I've heard of her music so far, that light breathy voice of hers fits marvelously with those relaxing melodies.

Take for example, "Pool no Ao wa Uso no Ao" (The Blue of the Pool is the Blue of Lies) which is a track from her 2nd album in her indies days "Kimi ni Todoku ka na, Watashi."（君に届くかな、私。...Will I/It Get to You?）released in September 2009. That's quite a ways back from "Cobalt Blue" but it looks like Nanba took Yano's advice to heart in those days as well. Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）of Kirinji（キリンジ）fame, another light and mellow veteran, wrote and composed this heartwarming mid-tempo number which seems to deal with someone perhaps visiting the ol' alma mater and reminiscing of past days.

As for the title, even Nanba and Horigome treat the title with something far less than the philosophical seriousness that it might initially feel like. Perhaps the protagonist was more pompous/pretentious in the teenage years but with the passage of time, things have mellowed out considerably. The melody by Horigome, by the way, has kinda struck me as being somewhat reminiscent of a modern version of Sunshine Pop. We can certainly make do with some of those tunes right now.

Shiho Nanba -- Cobalt Blue（コバルトブルー）

Last night, I wrote an article on another one of Blue Peppers'（ブルー・ペパーズ）mellow tracks from their 2017 album "Retroactive", "Hachi-gatsu no Kageboushi"（八月の影法師）, and in fact, much earlier this year, I had written about the album itself.

One of the tracks that was tackled on the article for "Retroactive" itself was the innocent and warm "Cobalt Blue" as sung by former AKB48 member Michiru Hoshino（星野みちる）. Well, in the last few days, I found out that this particular track was actually a cover of the original version provided by Blue Peppers to Fukuoka-born singer Shiho Nanba（南波志帆）.

Nanba has been around as a performer since 2008 with her major debut beginning in 2010. "Cobalt Blue" is a track on her third album "meets sparkjoy" released in April 2016 (and reaching No. 45 on Oricon). With only a few differences in the arrangement (including some electric guitar at the end), and a slightly less whispery delivery by Nanba, the song is an ironically titled track. On first seeing the title, I would have thought that it was prefacing a cool-as-ice hard techno tune. Instead, it's referring to a girl's accessory on the ideal day to have that wonderful date in the park.