[Jrock] Jinkaku Radio- Akui
Jinkaku radio is a band I had never heard of before, and I really regret that. I downloaded a song of their, an acoustic version of Buranko and was immediately captured by the simple but emotive composition and the tone of the singers voice. The singer doesn’t have the strongest sounding voice, but surprisingly can hold notes a long time and manages to convey a lot of emotion. Naturally, after that one song I hunted out the original. I found it on the B-side of their single, Akui which was released on 04.12.2005.
Akui(malice) is just WOW. It starts with a calming guitar and synth string part which makes you think that it will be some sort of ballad: before introducing the rest of the instruments making for a far heavier and darker sound. Things quiet down for the verses, with a soft piano part and the vocals sounding blunt- simply conveying the lyrics building up the emotion to the chorus where the singer just lets go. His voice sounds strained, which adds to a feeling of despair and pain instead of being annoying. The chorus is followed by a long and excellent guitar part before again toning down to the piano and the vocals. The highlight being the end where the main lines like “yami no ame” is sung out and the vocalist sustains the notes over a beautiful guitar part. The song then ends much like it began, piano and string and guitar in a calming motif, totally contrasting to the rest of the song. Overall It’s a dark song filled with emotions particularly despair, the lyrics seemingly depicting some sort of breakdown.
Buranko(swing) is totally opposite of Akui. Actually, it’s a strange beast. A fantastic beautiful beast-but strange. The lyrics are cryptic, the feelings it makes you feel and the atmosphere of the song is mixed- it in part is a song filled with hopelessness, despair and yet by the end you are feeling hopeful and relaxed. It stars with what sounds like a wooden xylophone over a heavy bass drum. The xylophone drops out and is replaced by a repeating piano part and the vocalist comes in, singing softly conveying a strange feeling. The chorus is the highlight, beautiful and sad- yet at the same time hopeful. The vocalist has a beautiful tone to his voice, and it’s lovely the way he floats up to the really high notes in the chorus, The repeating rhythms are like the gentle rhythm of the swing going back and forth, During the bridge a childish element comes into the song, the simple melodies and the repetition like a nursery rhyme. This is backed up by the ending, where the xylophone comes back in and you can hear children singing. A strange beast, but beautiful and emotional: simply amazing. No to mention, totally unlike anything I’ve heard before.
Overall rating: 893893893/5 (Awesomeness)
Favourite Tracks: Akui, Buranko
Overall, this is a fantastic single from a brilliant and clearly talented band. They tend to remind me a lot of Muse actually. I’ve not heard a lot of Muse but what my sister plays, but the alternate element to Jinkaku’s radios music, the prolonged notes and the sense of urgency are all there: especially in Akui. Overall a fantastic and unique single, which is strangely catchy and great to put on repeat for a day or so (note: I’ve been playing this at least 5 times a day for the past three days). Furthermore, this is a good intro single to their music and just how awesome this band is. Highly recommended!
Tags: Japanese rock, Jinkaku Radio, visual kei