In September 2009, harmonic pop group noanowa released their first album, SPECTACLE. Here’s a look back at my review from the archives of my old blog, unchained.
The cover of noanowa’s first album, SPECTACLE, describes the group (in English!) as “an orchestra oriented band that draws a line from J-pop. Yukko [...] leads the 5 members to perform melodies of overwhelming joy.” This is probably one of the best descriptions of the band that I’ve seen yet–leave it to them to come up with the perfect thing to say, right?
SPECTACLE, preceded only by a demo EP and a mini-album just released in February, is strikingly–though maybe not surprisingly–well composed and professional. Yukko is in top form, both in singing and her additional work on the cello, and the other band members have certainly done a fine job with each of their respective instruments. Though I would have loved the album regardless of its finer points, because I adore the band, I am really very impressed by how much detail this release contains. The album feels like one cohesive whole, but each song also sounds very much like an independent musical journey with its own twists and turns.
Naming the album after its second track, “SPECTACLE, ” was a very wise decision. “SPECTACLE” is just that; it is a joyful, impressive display of the band’s talents and aspirations, and while it may not take all that many risks, noanowa has their music down to a fine art with this one. Yukko’s cello, when it does come into this song, is always a sweet little surprise. What I really appreciate is the song’s complexity. At first, I thought it was just a playful piece, but the chorus is reaching towards something entirely different. It’s difficult to sum up… but Yukko’s chanting of “dancing, dancing” feels almost compelling. Then, just as we’re left to think the song is coming to an end, there’s a little bit more singing and slow instrumentation. On first listen, it was a surprise that made my mouth fall open.
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While a lot of the album does feature the cello work that the band is known for, and the flowing, harmonious instrumentation that was present on the Yume no Arika mini-album, it seems like they’ve also steered themselves in the direction of happy, cheerful tunes that will put a smile on your face. While songs like “Haku” and “Yume no Arika” were serious, “Subarashii Sekai”–the song reminiscient of a circus–seemed to be the guide for SPECTACLE. “loop, loop” is the pinnacle of these happy songs; “Kaeru no Uta” and “Hoshi ga Mieru Hi wa” spring along happily behind. While “Kaeru no Uta” is simply fun, “Hoshi” experiments with some mild electronic effects and vocoder work–yes, a vocoder on a nowanowa track!–that make it simply delightful. It’s just unfortunate that “lastday” is only a few seconds long… with all the guys singing instead of Yukko, I think that would have been the most fun track on the entire album!
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Of course, this release is not without some fault. “Yume no Arika,” the eleventh and final track, is almost tired at this point. My first thought was that the band could have at least reworked the song a little, made a SPECTACLE only version or something… but, then again, this version of the song is the third one anyway! (There were two different versions between the demo e.p. and a two track release called demo e.p.+.) So, because I don’t count “Yume no Arika” or “lastday” among the album’s actual pieces of music… well, things seem almost stunted. And songs like “Melt” and “Line” are enjoyable, because they do venture outside the noanowa box, but I actually found myself wanting more cello. Why throw away what works? People complain about too much piano in Angela Aki albums, but what do you do when the key instrument isn’t used enough?
Overall, the album is spectacular. For a band’s first full-length release, it boasts enough beautifully-composed songs and instrumentation to boost it up on my list of favorite albums for 2009. I’m disappointed that it can’t top that list, but I’m confident that things will be different in 2010. noanowa is a young band and SPECTACLE is their first real album–they have plenty of time to improve. I’m eager to hear what they do after this. They’ve come up with the perfect way to describe themselves… now it’s just up to them to perfect their craft as well.