For the purpose of space, I’ll spare you my thousand-upon-thousand word essay about celebrated Japanese artist Tatsuro Yamashita for the moment and just say that few singer / songwriters anywhere are as skilled craftsman like Yamashita, whose legacy still looms large over the Japanese music scene. His best songs revolve around longing and hoping, and his latest single (dude still goin’ strong at 63!) “Cheer Up! The Summer” tightropes between both feelings. Powered by some of the hardest hitting drums backing up one of his songs, “Cheer Up!” mourns the already finished season while already dreaming off of summers to come, Yamashita’s self harmonizing and the shiny melody already drifting off to an imagined tomorrow in the shadow of what just finished. Listen to the short version above.
