New Sakanaction: “Sayonara Wa Emotion”

A little bit back, Sakanaction released the video for “Hasu No Hana,” a slow-burning number that made the most of repetition. Now comes the other side of their most recent single and…it is pretty different! “Sayonara Wa Emotion” skitters from the start, both via the beat and the drippy-droppy synths that pass over it. All of “Sayonara” shifts more than “Hasu No Hana,” changing tempo frequently and adding in more background details. Together, it makes for an overall solid release.

But “Sayonara Wa Emotion’s” biggest strengths also happen to be Sakanaction’s strengths. Like a lot of their finest songs, “Sayonara” is an emotionally charged cut delivered on a stadium-sized level…Sakanaction are a band capable of headlining any Japanese music festival today, so all of the melancholy wrapped up here is packaged in a way built for biggie-sized crowds (even the title is pretty obvious about its intention…you don’t even really need to know Japanese at all to figure out what’s going on there). Yet the opening verse here is detailing a late-night trip to a convenience store to buy canned coffee…before turning into an inner-thrashing about growing cold emotionally. And, like many of Sakanaction’s other highlights, it builds to a big climax, the sort of thing they have gotten incredibly good at. Listen above.