Classical Punk and Echoes Under the Beauty as pictured by Takaakira ‘Taka’ Goto. A mature and inspired electronic neo-classical album. Recorded twelve years before release it is now deigned fit for view by the artist.
Similar to the style of The Third Eye Foundation and Arvo Pärt where compositions are based upon a canonical motif and advertising an internal soundtrack, a first glance is to confuse the elegant musings as an onerous dub.
A rock-power kit brings the percussion section up to date, deliberating over traditional instrumentation. The contemporary down-tempo rhythms mostly compliment the acute ideation of the tracks. Where there is severity appropriated by their obnoxious tracking it is not to frame the antsy tintinnabulum in the melodies but to compensate for them by formally grounding the beat by moving the rhythm like a strong tread.
As the mood is very sad the melancholia is attenuated by adulating harmonies that bridge the bass lines simply with the melodies, taking a very modern rock approach to juxtaposing the frequencies in tandem, often dancing. The atmosphere can holistically be characterized by ‘yearning’ with little to no resolution prevalent on this release as any feeling is abruptly cut at the close of the final song.
Heavily inspired Classical Punk and Echoes Under the Beauty features many sultry musings without any decisive innovation. The viscosity of the two prevalent genres mixed in together blends to create a film over the substance of the album, one that has its moments of reflection stirred unnecessarily by standard drum patterns that vacuously compliment the material. At times wistful, these compositions would work well on a more serious or romantic Manga or a Visual Novel however.
6/10
