[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW1r5oCGf2Q”]
In which Tokyo’s Teen Runnings (formerly Friends, for those not caught up) notice the season and ditch the beach for the mountains…sorta. New song “Wonder Mountaineering” declares as much with its title – which, a Google search of “song with mountaineering in the title,” reveals to be a frontrunner for best song with mountaineering in the title – and found-clip video. Yet Teen Runnings don’t ditch their sonic approach just because the nature around them changed – despite a relatively clean lead-in, the verses of the song are dipped in noise that makes hearing the actual lyrics a difficult task. This latest offering moves at a slightly slower pace than most of the band’s material on last year’s Let’s Get Together Again, but not by much, as Teen Runnings still bop along in a simple pop style that is very inviting. Like most of their releases before, the real draw is the nostalgic longing seeping out of every guitar note and those vocals, which one might not be able to make out but sound focused on something that has already passed. Watch the video above.