Ongaku Cafe (The 2000s): AIR – Nayuta (2008)

“Kurumatani Kouji is back with his eighteenth album under his solo music monicker “AIR”. AIR’s music is an acquired taste because of the artist’s nasal vocals but for those who know Japanese can appreciate his music because of his well-written lyrics and his ability to take on a variety of musical genres.”

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ARTIST: AIR

ALBUM: Nayuta

LABEL: Roots

CATALOG #: NFCD-27069/B

DURATION: 52:51

RELEASE DATE: February 27, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

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1. Dawning
2. Nayuta
3. Janaica
4. Surfriders
5. Holy Sorry
6. Kaze (ninoru)
7. Only Just
8. Have Fun (The Far East Mix)
9. Microcosm
10. (Secret Track)

DVD: REGION 2, 4:3, Duration: 8 minutes

1. Surfriders
2. Have Fun

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Those who are familiar with Spiral Life will probably know the name of the main vocalist Kurumatani Kouji. Since the group going their separate ways in 1996, Kurumatani has continued to be have his legion of fans who appreciate the artist’s music as a solo artist in which he has gone by the name of “AIR”.

In Japan, his music has inspired artists such as ORANGE RANGE’s NAOTO, Dragon Ash’s Furuya Kenji and RIZE’s JESSE and have won a lot of people because of his lyrics that cover political and social issues and things that are happening in everyday life.

AIR’s music can be described as guitar rock or alternative rock but the truth is that AIR has taken on various musical genres but for his latest album “Nayuta”, AIR stays within the confines of acoustic guitar and rock music. This album would include his 24th CD single “Surfriders” and his 25th CD single “Have Fun”.

For his primary instruments of choice that he uses is the electric and acoustic guitar, electric bass, Weissenborn, percussion and various sound manipulations.

The first track “Dawning” is a straightforward acoustic guitar and I would like to say keyboard but according to the production credits, there are no keyboard on this track and I would see it as AIR’s ability to manipulate sound. All in all, a nice instrumental.

The second track is the album title track “Nayuta” which is an acoustic guitar driven track with electric and acoustic bass by Watanabe Hitoshi and percussions by Kumei Hiroyuki. The track sounds as if it could be a ballad but picks up midway to become a mid-tempo rock track.

The third track “Janaica” is an acoustic and percussion driven track. A catchy, happy melody.

The fourth track is “Surfriders”, AIR’s 24th CD single (rel. June 2007) featuring an upbeat electric guitar-driven track with clanging percussion.

The fifth track “Holy Sorry” is a slow rock ballad.

The sixth track “Kaze (ninoru)” is an acoustic guitar and clap-based track. The track has a 50s style of sound and as the track progresses midway, starts to incorporate the electric and acoustic bass.

The seventh track “Only Just” is a mid-tempo rock-track. A mellow rock track.

The eighth track is “Have Fun”, AIR’s 25th CD single but features a “Far East Mix” version. The mix features claps and manipulation with vocals, again I would like to say keyboards are used but according to the production credits, there are no keyboards used. The song starts of with what sounds like electric drums in conjunction with clapping sounds and vocal manipulations. The song then transitions into a rock-track but still incorporating the clapping sounds and deep bass drum sounds.

The ninth track “Microcosm” is another rock driven track. Mainly a lot of electric guitar churning and AIR is definitely singing but it’s hardly audible with the electric guitar churning.

The final tenth track has no true name, it’s called “Secret Track”. The first two minutes is silence but takes the first instrumental track, adds percussion and perhaps another layer of music is heard playing backwards. The track is instrumental.

As for the DVD, the two music videos of his CD singles featured on “Nayuta” are included. The music video for “Surfriders” features a variety of surfers riding waves and the second music video for “Have Fun” features a woman singing along to the song.

The CD insert booklet features no lyrics. Just production credits and photos of a guitar, a business card and the words “Milk says to Wine, “Welcome Friend”.

My Japanese friends have always commented on AIR’s music as truly Japanese. Because his lyrics resonate strongly with Japanese. Many artist’s have said they are inspired by Kurumatani’s work but would his music resonate strongly for those outside of Japan and those who don’t understand Japanese.

In fact, some may look at Kurumatani as someone like Bob Dylan. Socially and politically infused music, nasal vocals, slight comparison.

But whether or not AIR’s music is for you depends if you really understand the lyrics and if you enjoy his vocals. Some may say it will take an acquired taste for his music, for me, just for this album alone, I’m not fluent in Japanese but I do look at the lyrics to somewhat understand or even look up of what the lyrics are about and unfortunately, the CD insert booklet does not include the lyrics.

But overall, I’m open to his music, some tracks caught my attention, others such as the remix for “Have Fun” just didn’t work for me.

I can’t comment how this album ranks with his previous albums but overall I didn’t love it nor did I dislike it. It was an average album for me overall.

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