Then I re-discovered this band. I first heard them when I... well I can't remember, but I remember thinking, "Yeah, I'll write about that one day" - a few months on, here I am. The first song itself is four months old (second is 6 months old), but who caresss. Not I. They both comes from a Japanese band from Tokyo called DYGL (pronounced "day-glo") and it's called 'I'm Waiting For You'. It's a very nice number that brings to mind miscellaneous Americana - long drives, long beaches, surfing. That kind of sound.
Beginning with a delicate bit of clean guitar work that is very pretty with its reverb, almost fragile sounding, the rest of the song kicks in. It's a lo-fi number, that's for sure. The drums are so fuzzy that you can barely hear them, but it fits the distorted jangle of the guitars just fine, as well as lazily yelping vocals. It suits my mood.
There's a retro hint to it, especially in the way the guitar chords in the chorus move up and down the fret board with that stop-start, foot-tapping pattern. The refrain is yelled out and it all fits together perfectly. A great, catchy song, soaked in a nostalgia for something that is wholly un-Japanese - something I can relate to. You can watch that song live, too, at MARZ - a live venue in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
As for this other song, 'Nashville', there's that same nostalgia, but this time it's tinged with a tragic air. It makes this one more beautiful than 'I'm Waiting For You', simply because of the slow sadness that this song. The bass and chord progressions are something that we've all heard before, but they are just done with such a different attitude that makes them sound fresh.
I think it's the vocals in this song that make it stand out a little more, too. They switch between regular and falsetto, sounding at times as if they are longing for, aching for, something. Some memory or present desire that can't be attained. Given that the song's title is 'Nashville' and the band are from Tokyo - which are worlds away geographically and culturally - I think it can be guessed that it's a lovesong to the American city.
The guitar work is really nice, not just the chords, but far off twanging guitar solos like distant memories, the country-song swing that it has to it. This is a really underrated song that I think a lot more people should know, or at least hear once in their lives. A wonderful sound. There's a video too. Watch it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Listen to DYGL on Soundcloud
Follow Nobuki Akiyama (one part of DYGL) on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment