Feel It: BOYISH And Daisyblue’s Gentle Breeze EP

Indie-pop artists aren’t necessarily expected to grow in their careers, at least not the ones adhering to the style first introduced in the mid 80s. Twee music, after all, is the domain of everlasting youth, a place where the troubles of the adult world get ignored for Indian summers and days spent thinking about crushes. It also helps that most indie-pop bands tend to not stick along very long.

BOYISH, up until now, had one pretty good song in “Cupid” and a handful of rougher demos that didn’t show much promise beyond being another bedroom-based songwriter in a country overflowing with them. Yet BOYISH shows tremendous growth on the recently released Gentle Breeze EP, a split work alongside another indie-popper named Daisyblue. His older recordings seemed like fragile sketches, the sort of skinny music that would be lost forever to a mild gust of wind. Opener “Waiting In Summer,” though, introduces a more thought-out BOYISH, one still clinging to the basic principles of twee (easy-peasy guitar strumming and basic beat) but now a bit braver when it comes to actual song construction. “Waiting In Summer” plays more with tempo and sounds fuller than anything that came before it. The other new BOYISH song here, “Sunshot,” runs much briefer but highlights BOYISH’s pop sensibility well. It’s not perfect – the vocals remain clouded by everything else, the Bandcamp tag saying “dream pop” but the effect shows a lack of confidence in singing – but is such a step up that BOYISH now deserves to have an eye trained on him.

Daisyblue, meanwhile, makes better use of the “dreamy” tag, the singing on the two songs from them on Gentle Breeze being light enough to melt away unlike BOYISH’s gruffer tone. “Framing” would be a very pleasant bit of pop if it ran two minutes, but wears out its welcome at six, making it the only obvious misfire on the EP. “Summery Film,” though, is pure prettiness. Daisyblue introduces a melted-popsicle synth and a violin to his swirly pop, and it lends the song a touch of psych-rock that makes it fun to get caught up in. Plus, it knows when to bow out. Listen to the EP below, or download it here.

[bandcamp album=2863371148 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Similar Posts

  • New CRZKNY: Seventeen Lost Souls UPDATED

    広島の若きフットワーク・アーティストCRZKNYは昨年、脱原発のメッセージが込められたサンプルを駆使したEPを2つリリースしました。でもあくまでアーティストなので、今回の”Seventeen Lost Souls”はそのようなコンセプトからは離れた、映画や音楽からのサンプルを使ったタイトルの無い17曲になっています。マドンナの”Like A Prayer”をサンプリングした”#5″や日本のテレビ番組のサンプルを散りばめた”#15″など、彼の今までのトラックとは違った軽快さが気持ちいいです。”#10″ではすぐに元ネタのわかるサンプルを聴く事が出来る楽しいトラックなのでオススメですよ。 UPDATE: Well, turns out Seventeen Lost Souls ISN’T online any longer. Bummer. But CRZKNY did upload a new song to celebrate 2013 called “Tornado Alley” which would have fit in lovely on that album. Listen to it…and download it…here.

  • New Sakanaction: “Music”

    サカナクションは1月23日発売のニューシングル、”ミュージック”にて、彼らの原点を少し振り返っています。ボーカリスト山口一郎のバースでの声の伸ばし方はまるでシングル”エンドレス”のようで、曲の後半で感情がぐっと込み上げてくる感じは”モノクロトウキョー”の世界観。でもアイディアが尽きたとかそういう意味ではなく、彼らが本来持っていたコアな部分を大事にしつつ、新しい事にチャレンジしています。構成も美しく、最初は山口のボーカルをセンターに配置した寂しい雰囲気で始まり、徐々にバンドがスペースを埋め、コーラスで感情は頂点に。度々言いますが、サカナクションが日本のメインストリームで飛躍していく姿を観れて本当に光栄です。試聴はこちらから。

  • New Tomggg Featuring Bonjour Suzuki: “Tick Tock Skip Drop”

    Tomggg isn’t an immediate contender for “most influential Japanese electronic producer of the last few years,” yet looking over the sea of SoundCloud players and Bandcamp offerings tagged “kawaii” reveal he might just very well be worthy for consideration. Powered on by songs such as “Popteen” and (especially) “Butter Sugar Cream,” his cutesy take on…