Adam Kenny“more than words”
Hitsujibungaku are an all women fronted J Rock band whom you may have actually heard of. They first came to my attention when their single “more than words” became massively popular as the ending theme of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2. One of the most popular anime and manga in recent years in both the west and Japan itself. “more than words” ended up becoming a main stay on some of my playlists as I found it was not only incredibly catchy, but had a nostalgic endearance that felt like saying goodbye to a special time in your life. Even the song title, “more than words”, has this emotional weight to it as though no matter how long you think about everything in a certain aspect of your life, you’ll always need more than words to talk about it. Memories, photos, and experiences.
The ending offering a beginning!
Hitsujibungaku new album, Don’t Laugh It Off has been making some quick and steady waves, and rightfully so. Japan is chock full of incredible artists that have garnered themselves a compelling fan base such as Ichiko Aoba (who remains one of my favourite live concerts) and more underground artists like Haru Nemuri. Whilst I have no idea what the majority if not all of the lyrics are saying on “Don’t Laugh It Off”, I can say that the music, production and performances on the album are excellent. Sonically, the band deal with a myriad of different melodies and genres. From math rock riffs, to grungy earthy and heavy guitars to indie pop bops that get your toes tapping. “Don’t Laugh It Off” has a lot to offer.
Following up some soft ballads with math rock craziness
The opening track of the album starts off with a slow tempo ballad that swells into this large trashing guitar collage, which is then followed up by the next track where this indie pop, math rock esque bop that sounds like something you’d listen to on a jog during the Summer comes on. Hitsujibungaku’s sound is far from predictable. To some it can come across as disjointed where each song has a different theme, sound, and sonic aesthetic. For me, I found it kept the 13 track record interesting.
I personally found that the first half of the album gripped me more than the second half. Songs like “feel” and “doll” stayed with me for quite a while after the album along with a couple of deep cuts near the middle. Whereas the second half I struggle to remember as much. However, I still enjoyed and admired songs like “tears” and “burning”. “tears” being another gorgeous ballad but has a subtle folk texture to it with some strings coming in the back. The vocals on this track pair incredibly well with the slow tempoed drums and the bittersweet strings. Whereas the guitars on this track have this almost mid western emo accent to them which works wonders here.
Passion for their craft
Whilst I can’t go into the lyrics as deeply as I liked, I can talk about the performances. This album is full of heart, effort and passion. It would be very easy for a band whom have garnered some great interest to go and make a mainstream appealing album with some sacrifice of their original vision. However, I find that Hitsujibungaku don’t need to sacrifice anything. I can’t stress enough to you, dear reader, how much of a breeze this album was to listen to. It’s something I’ve listened to front and back several times now and not once has it over stayed it’s welcome. It’s length is a little longer than your average LP at fifty four minutes, but you don’t feel it at all. Each track is an event that you wish goes on for the duration of the album. It’s really impressive what Hitsujibungaku have done here to me. Especially considering I haven’t a clue what they’re actually saying to me, but I still think I get the idea at times. That’s a special thing to say about an album.
Overall
Don’t Laugh It Off is an incredibly accessible, open, honest and dazzling album. I’ve been listening to it constantly since it’s released and don’t expect to see it leave my rotation for some time to come. Hitsujibungaku have gone from being that band that is on a few of my playlists, to a group I’m going to keep an eye out for the in the future. I’m looking forward to what they do next, but in the meantime I’m going to back and see what they’ve already done. A great album I’d highly recommend giving a listen.
