l’arc~en~ciel | butterfly (2012) First glance at the tracklist: “haven’t they already released like all these songs already!?” But then you listen and realize you never bothered to listen to all those singles you downloaded: the first track, “Chase”, is great! Starts off “Get Out from the Shelly”, then hits its happy, rocky stride through the verse, bridge AND chorus. Best L’Arc song in the last five years? “X X X” is too stringy, like most of Hyde & Co’s output this century, and relies more on production technique (multilayered vocals and distant, repeating guitar playbacks) than actual songcraft. “Bye Bye” lifts that Yellow Submarine inspirational/forlorn horn-on-a-hill thing, and the orchestral chug below; adds a rancid tambourine to the chorus, and a shit solo, choking on a bad combination of effects. “Good Luck” is all “yeah hooray HORNS!” (horns = rock music’s HIV) but I still dig the hole the verse ruts in (1:34-1:46 for example), the vocal burn and chug-along guitar… cool. “Bless” is awful pap. Sickeningly oversweetened. Diabetic even! “Shade of Season” is one of the new tracks. It sounds like they forgot half the instrumentation.  “Drink It Down” feels like a track off Real (2000)… sorta dark, doing something different, heavier guitar than Ken’s ever done, and a nice high note in the chorus, Hyde! :) “Wild Flower” begins like it’s off Hyde’s old Roentgen disc (think “string quartety”) til Tets & Ken & Yukes join in and for a minute the transition is intriguingly listenable(and that segment gets revisited deeper in the song), but the majority of the track is just more L’Arcy ballad-rock that they’ve been regurgitating dishonestly since at least “Pieces”. Oh well.  “Shine” is all pleasant summery sunniness, Tetsu harmonizing with Hyde while Ken plucks out clean semi-glittery notes, with acoustics contentedly jangling in the background. “Nexus 4” is spunky but can’t maintain its energy for long. The last song, “Mirai Sekai” is half music-box saccharininty, half dirge. It’s interesting (possibly even good), and a perfect album closer.  I doubt I’ll listen too this any more than I have to the last five albums, but it’s worth having around. :/
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l’arc~en~ciel | butterfly (2012)

First glance at the tracklist: “haven’t they already released like all these songs already!?”

But then you listen and realize you never bothered to listen to all those singles you downloaded: the first track, “Chase”, is great! Starts off “Get Out from the Shelly”, then hits its happy, rocky stride through the verse, bridge AND chorus. Best L’Arc song in the last five years?

“X X X” is too stringy, like most of Hyde & Co’s output this century, and relies more on production technique (multilayered vocals and distant, repeating guitar playbacks) than actual songcraft.

“Bye Bye” lifts that Yellow Submarine inspirational/forlorn horn-on-a-hill thing, and the orchestral chug below; adds a rancid tambourine to the chorus, and a shit solo, choking on a bad combination of effects.

“Good Luck” is all “yeah hooray HORNS!” (horns = rock music’s HIV) but I still dig the hole the verse ruts in (1:34-1:46 for example), the vocal burn and chug-along guitar… cool.

“Bless” is awful pap. Sickeningly oversweetened. Diabetic even!

“Shade of Season” is one of the new tracks. It sounds like they forgot half the instrumentation. 

“Drink It Down” feels like a track off Real (2000)… sorta dark, doing something different, heavier guitar than Ken’s ever done, and a nice high note in the chorus, Hyde! :)

“Wild Flower” begins like it’s off Hyde’s old Roentgen disc (think “string quartety”) til Tets & Ken & Yukes join in and for a minute the transition is intriguingly listenable(and that segment gets revisited deeper in the song), but the majority of the track is just more L’Arcy ballad-rock that they’ve been regurgitating dishonestly since at least “Pieces”. Oh well. 

“Shine” is all pleasant summery sunniness, Tetsu harmonizing with Hyde while Ken plucks out clean semi-glittery notes, with acoustics contentedly jangling in the background.

“Nexus 4” is spunky but can’t maintain its energy for long.

The last song, “Mirai Sekai” is half music-box saccharininty, half dirge. It’s interesting (possibly even good), and a perfect album closer. 

I doubt I’ll listen too this any more than I have to the last five albums, but it’s worth having around.

:/

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  1. jrocknyc posted this