Plastic Tree provides a preview of their album to be released in September with this classic single.
Plastic Tree is a band that needs no introduction. With a career that spans over ten years and an impressive discography, they showed no signs of slowing down in 2008. Replay/Dolly is the second single they released this year, and it comes out only a month before their next album is scheduled to go on sale. The single comes in two versions: CD-only, which features three songs, and CD+DVD, which contains the PV for Replay as well as 'making of' footage. This is a review of the CD-only version.
Replay starts with light guitar strumming and Ryutaro singing softly. There's a heartbeat styled backbeat acting as a literal pulse for the song, and it matches well with the bass line. Tadashi plays a prominent role in leading the song, as the bass builds up the melody, but Ryutaro's vocals give the song its shine. His voice is just the right mix of rough crying and smooth crooning. As the song speeds up, the soft, deep undercurrent of emotion whips up into a burst of longing. It all comes together in the bridge, with Ryutaro practically yelling, and then there's an instrumental solo featuring a thrumming bass and wailing guitar. The ending breaks down into a waltz and sounds a little like a children's lullaby before moving back into grandiose, instrumental rock territory.
The second track, Dolly, sounds a little like some of the songs off Plastic Tree's Nega to Posi album. It's not a bad song, except it certainly doesn't cover any new ground. Dolly has a lighter feel than Replay and a much catchier, swinging chorus, but after about two minutes, it gets repetitive. There's little variation in the melody and the vocal style, so after the first listen, it's unlikely you'll want to play it again.
The third track is a completely instrumental track, but it's not of one of the previous songs. Kaisou, koe wa naku. is wholly original. A sweet, light song with an airy guitar melody, it keeps a relaxing pace until about halfway through. Then the bass takes the forefront with its pounding, twisted rhythm and shifts the song into a haunting minor key. This only lasts for a minute before the drums take over in a storm of noise matched to shouting in the background. The song nearly disintegrates with the sound effect of something crunching and crumpling, but Plastic Tree picks it up and ends it with flair: the last repeated melody is sure to make you want to headbang along.
The title Replay/Dolly captures the spirit of the single perfectly. The first song is one you'll want to play over and over (and it will be interesting to hear the Utsusemi version when it comes out), the second track is nice but something you’ll grow out of. Long time fans of Plastic Tree will want to have all three songs, however, the rest of us may just enjoy Replay on its own.
