The four-piece band
Tokyo Jihen, headed by singer
Sheena Ringo, disbanded at the end of February this year, ending eight years together. The rest of 2012 therefore has seen a barrage of releases as parting gifts, the latest of which is a collection of their B-sides, or "coupling" songs, entitled
Shinya Waku. It came out on the 29th of August.
Apart from the most ardent of
Tokyo Jihen fans, many will discover some new (or is it old?) gems in this B-side album. Things kick off with the retro pop-rock
HANDSOME sugite. This track was only released as a promotional video in 2011 and didn't make its way onto any audio releases, instead it was only featured on the music video collection,
CS Channel. Luckily it found a home on
Shinya Waku, and its infectious tones make for a great start to the album. It features little
Tokyo Jihen eccentricities such as level-crossing bell chimes and a shrill, an abrupt ending, and
Sheena seductively crooning to the "handsome young fellow" of the title—the cherry on top.
The great mix of the coupling songs gives this collection enough variety to be a strong stand-alone release. There's the über-chilled
Karada, the smooth lounge sound suiting
Sheena's smokier, lower register. There are also contrasting snarling vocals in
BB. QUEEN to give us staccato, aggressive rock. The coin is flipped again in the relaxed pop-rock
PINOCCHIO and jazzy
Kokoro.
Gaman sounds like the band couldn't settle on a single style:
Kamada Seiji sets up a bouncy bass funk riff with guitarist
Ukigumo to start before it explodes into noisy rock. It returns to the funk and then leads into a samba section, before deciding that the raucous rock is the way to go.
There's some amazingly creative writing from
Sheena and other members of the band, current and former. In the duet
Kao from first single,
Gunjou Biyori, she and ex-guitarist
Hirama Mikio play out the crumbling relationship between a "Lord" and "Lady" amidst an increasingly dramatic rock backdrop. One of their best songs, if not (debatably) the best, is the beautiful
Rakujitsu. Appearing at the end of 3rd single,
Shuraba, it is the most emotive song the band released compositionally and vocally. Whilst the band often pulls out all the theatrical stops in some of their tracks,
Rakujitsu is a pared down, piano-dominant balladic piece.
Sheena's vocals are more restrained and never get to the frenzied, dramatic heights as heard in
Yume no ato and its ilk, but are all the more impactful for it. The powerful instrumental ending will stay with you long after the last notes have faded.
The band's various covers are also included, such as their disco-fever
Koi wa maboroshi (GET IT UP FOR LOVE) (
Average White Band), a vintage and surprisingly faithful version of
DYNAMITE (
Brenda Lee), and a hyperactive Charlston-y
Sono onna fushidara ni tsuki (show tune
The Lady is a Tramp).
There is one new song on the album—the final track,
Tadanaranu kankei. It's a cheerful and upbeat song, though ironic, considering that the title means "serious relationship". However, as the official English title is "And the Beat Goes On", it appears they are fine to move on from this eight-year relationship. It's a smooth jazzy track with more great funky bass from
Kamada. The addition of a big band brass section gives it more of a march-like atmosphere, especially in the latter half. It's a positive, if slightly tame, farewell from the band.
Not only is
Shinya Waku a good way to cap off your
Tokyo Jihen album collection, it's a good exploration of the essence of the band and its evolution over their career. With the B-sides taking more of a back seat, they can be more fun, inventive or experimental in nature than the more commercial A-sides. A perfect accompaniment to the band's singles collection for a full
Tokyo Jihen immersion.
A short clip of the PV for
Tadanaranu kankei can be seen
here, featuring costumes and themes from all of the band's previous album releases in a fitting Olympic-style tribute.
