Toko Okabe -- Snow Candle no Yoru（スノー・キャンドルの夜）

 

Singer-songwriter Toko Okabe（岡部東子）may not have become a word in every household but I've liked what I have heard so far. Back in 2021, I posted a couple of articles regarding her music through the Xmas tune "Kata ni Fureta Christmas Eve"（肩にふれたクリスマス・イヴ）from her 1988 debut album "Amnesia" and "Vacancy", the first track from her second album "Stay the Sun" from 1989.

Recently, I was able to find this other track from "Stay the Sun" titled "Snow Candle no Yoru" (Snow Candle Night). Written and composed by Okabe herself, despite the title, it's not really a Christmas tune per se although I think the romance is still plenty imbued in there. The notable thing for me though is the arrangement by Kenichi Mitsuta（光田健一）with the strings and classy piano which brought all sorts of Fashion Music thoughts to my head. I kinda assumed that Fashion Music had been more of a late 70s/early 80s phase. What also adds to it is Okabe's vocals which automatically had me thinking of Chicaco Sawada（沢田知可子）and post-City Pop Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）. Just wanna cuddle up in a warm blanket with a hot mug of cocoa.☕

Toko Okabe -- Vacancy

 

We start off today's crop of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" articles with another little-known singer-songwriter who rather came and went. In fact, 1989 was her sole year in the limelight.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1kP4y1Y7iY/

For any singers named Toko, the one that always comes to mind is the silky and svelte Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）who had her big time from the 1990s. However, there was that one singer with that same first name who appeared in that final year of the 1980s: Toko Okabe（岡部東子）. Very little information is available online about her and I couldn't even find where she hailed from.

However, she did release two singles and two albums in 1989 and the one album that I'm featuring here is "Stay the Sun" which came out in October. As one Japanese blogger noted, Okabe was going for a more mature sound with this second and final album, and as he put it, the results were pretty humdrum. Still, I don't have any axe to grind with that first track "Vacancy" which was written and composed by her. Okabe has some light and pleasant soul in her voice and "Vacancy" possesses some nice and understated groove. I'm never going to turn down any light and mellow R&B.