Album Review【sleepy.ab - "fractal"】
sleepy.ab are Tsuyoshi Nariyama (Vo.&Gu.), Kensuke Yamauchi (Gu.), and Hideyuki Tanaka (Ba.).
Note: The following interpretations are my own personal views and may or may not be what the band wants to deliver.
sleepy.ab’s new album, “fractal”, is a long-awaited album that brings out the nostalgia in old fans and embraces both old and new listeners into the delicacy of a comforting dream world. The release of "fractal" comes 7 years after their previous album release. It was a long wait for fans but the album proved to be well worth the wait, even better than expected. The band has gone back to their roots to put out music that is like being surrounded by a soft glowing light that cradles you to dream in their abstracted, floating, and safe world. From music to lyrics, "fractal" is a piece of artwork that is meant to loop endlessly in your music player like the infinitely complex patterns of a fractal.
A warm melody blending with electronic sounds begins in the instrumental first track “decode”. As we begin to decrypt the message of music and lyrics of sleepy.ab, we are being sent to the dreamy world of the next track, “cactus”.
“cactus” starts off with an uplifting guitar melody, followed by Nariyama’s mellow voice which brings about nostalgia. The music is melodic, warm, and light-hearted, like a warm welcome to a familiar friend’s comfortable home. Lyrically, Nariyama writes about existences which were very similar (“本当に僕たちは似ていたんだね") and then fated to breath and divide repeatedly (“息をしたり 分裂を繰り返す 宿命”), which I personally view as a metaphor for plant cells of a “cactus”. This echoes with the album title “fractal”, which are never-ending patterns that are self-similar across different scales, like plant cells.
“サンクチュアリ” (Sanctuary) begins with a melody of a mellow and mystical atmosphere. The audience is embraced by a dark and mystical ambience. The lyrics are ominous and questions the existence of beings, with innuendoes of death. It is a heart-aching song. The last phrase of melody gives the gloominess a glint of hope as it changes like giving a conclusion for turmoil.
The darkness continues in “ideology”. The jazzy style with its dark, yet aggressive mood stands out from most of what sleepy.ab did in the past. The “ideology in your head” gives people a sense of truth to act upon, which is mostly based on different aspects of society and politics, so corrupted that it needs to turn into ash for self-purification ("灰に変わり果てる 自浄を"). The lyrics are just as destructive as the mood is aggressive.
The darkness ends and warm light glows again in the instrumental track “gleam”, indicating a progression from dark night to bright day.
“hours” begins with an endearing guitar melody playing tenderly to the heart. The delicate melody and mellow singing continue to warm the listener while illuminating our negativity. The lyrics write about time being left out as daily life goes on (“日常に取り残された”). When we realize our problems, it is already too late to go back ("気づいた時には もう 戻れないの？") to change anything. “hours” is a song that makes us reflect on our regrets. Absolutely one of my favorite tracks of the album.
“息継ぎ” (Ikitsugi) is a beautiful track where the music weaves out an ethereal imaginary landscape while the lyrics tell the story of it. The piano accompanies the dreamy guitar and electronic sounds to create a translucent and floating ambience which inspires imagination and daydreams. There are times in everyday life when we have to take a breath from the reality, where seeing and touching is everything (“眼に映るもの それがすべてでも”), and daydream into an imaginary landscape. Falling down onto that imaginary landscape, we meet someone who we often think of in our daydreams. However, in reality, we don’t realize and walk past each other in the streets (“無意識の中で すれ違っている”). The two persons are strangers in reality but friends in imagination, separated from each other like day and night, perhaps the only time they can meet is during the interchange of day and night (“夜が来るまで 朝が来るまで”). “息継ぎ” is unquestionably one of my most favorite tracks of the album.
“light blue” is pleasant and mellow, yet at the same time, sounds a bit like a ‘40s old song you hear from a black-and-white film. The mood of the music creates an imagery of a bird flying freely. Lyrically, the flapping of wings suggests a departure from our life on the ground up into the “light blue” sky. Flying up so high that the sky, everyone, and the ground disappear ("此処もなくなるだろう"). This alludes to a departure from the Earth. Bidding goodbye (“さようなら”), we set forth on a journey to the outer space to say hello to the other “planette”.
“planette” is another mellow track, yet with an addition of a bit of Radiohead-influenced moodiness. While being all mellow and moody, the song gets aggressive with electronic turbulence in the midst, then goes back to continue like how it was before. sleepy.ab ends the mellow of the song with another flurry of electronic noises, a contrast to the ending of the disruptive electronic guitar sounds in Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android”. Lyrically, “planette” is space travel that continues the flying journey from “light blue”. However, the “planette” has lost its purpose because its moon is gone (“理由を失くしたプラネット 月はとうに消えた”). Luckily, the moon is rediscovered as light that traveled light years shining on the tears that encompass the palm of a hand (“手の平にきらきら落ちる 涙を超えて 新しい”).
The album continues with “promise” in a hopeful and inspiriting musical atmosphere. The uplifting music gives the listener an imagery of making a “promise” to yourself, of a dream that you wish to actualize, upon the shooting stars in the night sky. The “promise” that passed by is the vector of a star (“通り過ぎた誓いは 星のベクトル”). The constancy of the melody and atmosphere of this song echoes with the perseverance that a “promise” should have.
The next instrumental track “cryptograph” is filled with a whirl of haunting digital noises. A complex “cryptograph” ready for “decode”.
The next track invites the listener to swim and float in the dreamy and translucent music atmosphere, resembling the misty water in the sky, “fog”. As you swim in the clear sky with the music, somehow you forget (“澄み切った空を泳げたら なんとなく 僕らも忘れていく”, and just feel misty water in the sky with your body like dancing to the music. We do not fly in the “light blue” sky anymore (“飛べないままでいて”), but swim in the “fog”.
In “アルファ”(Alpha), the laid-back and comfortable vibes continue to create a warm and calm atmosphere, a perfect listen while reading a book or about to sleep. The scenery of the starry night sky continues here. In the lyrics, the prayers are the afterword of the stars (“君はいま 祈ってる 星のあとがき”), a likened metaphor to that of three tracks ago where the “promise” that passed by was the vector of the star.
The second final track, “id”, continues the album in a gloomy and moody aura. The poignant atmosphere of the music pushes the listener to whirl in a circle of unfulfilled desires. In the lyrics, he cannot change or capture his reflection. He feels suffocated that he only notices this when he breathes again (“変われずに 捉えられない うつりゆければ また息づき始めるから 気付いて”) Acceptance of fate can be devastating, therefore, we go on a journey to search for a new fate (“受け入れて 壊せるから 探して”). Once again going into the endless circle of unfulfilled desires.
The final track, “ホログラム”(Hologram), is a renovated version of the instrumental track with the same title released in the 2006 album, “palette”. sleepy.ab renewed the track with new singing melodies and backing track, making it even more appealing to the ears as it did before. The song is a masterpiece of emotions sparkling from the glowing warm light of Nariyama’s singing. In the lyrics, the light looks down shining into the darkness, where you become sad when you want to touch it (“光がうつむく 夜の闇に 触れてみたくなって 悲しい”), because light cannot be touched physically, akin the light of a “hologram”.
In the earlier phase of sleepy.ab, the band was influenced by English bands such as Radiohead and Oasis. However, it is obvious that sleepy.ab has developed a style of their own throughout the decades of music dedication. Their music ranges from alternative rock to post-rock and to electronica, but there are no limitations on the music style that they put out. This time in “fractal”, the band has found inspiration for their rhythm from African-American music, a new approach which has let us hear the unique sound of abstract music from the band. Moreover, vocalist Nariyama contemplates himself to write lyrics with a deeper meaning in the metaphorical new album.
sleepy.ab is a three-piece band formed in 1998 based in Hokkaido, which is in northernmost Japan. The concept of their name is that they want to create music that you can listen during sleep, where the "ab" is not pronounced because it is "abstract" or “absolute”. Their members consist of Tsuyoshi Nariyama (Vo.&Gu.), Kensuke Yamauchi (Gu.), and Hideyuki Tanaka (Ba.).
Find the band on:
Official website
Facebook
A big thanks to Mr.Nariyama for sharing his lyrics with me and for trusting me to write this review. Also, thanks to my friend, Raymond, for giving me a hand with the Japanese emails during the contact with Mr.Nariyama.
A Chinese version of the review will be coming soon. Don’t miss it if you’re interested!
