Head Spins: Yuichi Nagao Featuring Shinobu (Her Ghost Friend): “Ending Story”

1. In a moment of pure honest — I kind of hate streaming services. Well, at least as someone maintaining a blog (ha!) in 2016 (ha ha!), as lots of great albums appear on, like, Apple Music, but I feel like I can’t really write about them here, since they seem so inaccessible to most people. As a fan, they have their perks. Like, I can listen to Her Ghost Friend’s latest album, released back in the summer, and marvel at how it is one of the year’s sweetest J-pop collections. But I forget to write that somewhere so…if you have the chance, go hunt down Kimi No Iru Sekai Ga Suki Dayo.

2. Shinobu, of Her Ghost Friend, guests on this bouncy bit of dream-hop courtesy of producer Yuichi Nagao (last seen here…during the last World Cup). “Ending Story” is a bit more lush than your usual Her Ghost Friend cut, but her lullaby-ready singing works just as fine in this context, and even sounds good when Nagao alters her singing ever so slightly. Which matches the surreal vibe of the song just right. Listen above.

3. Nagao’s recently released Rêverie zoomed right by our radar, but looks like something right up our alley. Besides Shinobu, it features appearances from the lead singer of Kindan No Tasuketsu (listen to that one below) and Smany, among others. Definitely a late autumn highlight worth seeking out.