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sakanaction

Japanese Music / Contemporary pop · 2013

sakanaction

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Why listen

Memorable refrains and persistent electronic rhythms lead from immersive night-time space towards a closing morning song.

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Tracks · previews

English editorial edition

Album story

Sakanaction gives the ear time to settle into a pulse before asking it to follow a large refrain. Passing through “intro” and “INORI” into “ミュージック,” listen for the gradual change in the melody’s position. Band playing and electronic sound need not function as alternating genres here; they can enlarge or contract the same musical room.

Released on 13 March 2013, the Sapporo quintet’s sixth album takes the band’s name as its title. It is a public-facing introduction without becoming merely a collection of familiar singles. Songs including “ミュージック,” “夜の踊り子” and “僕と花” sit among pieces of different durations and textures. Their arrangement offers a reason to hear the whole sequence, even when some tracks are already familiar. Understanding every Japanese lyric is not required to follow its accumulation and release of sound.

How a refrain arrives

A strong melody can make the repetition before it sound different in retrospect. Follow a steady pulse and notice when the voice seems to come closer. Has an instrument entered, has an existing part grown louder, or has something withdrawn to make space? These are useful questions because melodic immediacy and careful sound construction are doing related work. Moving with a rhythm and examining a song’s form need not be competing ways to listen.

Keep the final stretch

An album containing a night-dancer title ends with “朝の歌,” a morning song. That need not imply one literal, chronological night. It does suggest a direction for listening. Keep “mellow” and “ストラクチャー” in place before the closing track rather than jumping between singles. There are further spaces to enter after the familiar songs. The sequence can accommodate both imagined public singing and the more private experience of listening alone.

Success and later editions

Oricon reported roughly 83,000 first-week sales and a debut at number one on its chart dated 25 March 2013, the band’s first album summit. Later album retrospectives, including Mikiki’s, belong to a different stage of reception. The original VICL-63999 CD and this digital selection share fourteen tracks. A remastered vinyl edition followed in 2015; concert releases with related titles should not be confused with this studio programme.

The album through its tracks

Play the first three tracks together, then notice additions and withdrawals as a refrain opens out.

  1. ミュージック

    The title means music, but the track need not be treated only as a statement of intent. Settle into its repeated pulse and follow the changing distance between the voice and surrounding sounds. Waiting for the song to open out gives the preceding restraint a purpose. A refrain heard alone therefore has a different effect from one reached through the whole track. Follow the melody first, then repeat the piece while concentrating on the persistent rhythm. One layer appears to advance while another holds its ground. Coming directly from “INORI” also changes the entrance: a pulse is already present in your body. Listen to the time taken to arrive, not just the eventual scale.

    Reference · Victor: original 2013 CD tracklist

  2. 夜の踊り子

    Respond to the dancing suggested by the title, but also compare the length of vocal phrases above the steady motion. Short repeated ideas and extended melody give the song more than one kind of movement. Place the voice temporarily in the background and follow the accompaniment: a space seems to be prepared for each return. Reverse your attention and the rhythm becomes a floor supporting the sentences. Comparing those two plays helps explain the relationship between band and electronic pulse without assigning each to a separate category. If a video or concert memory dominates your impression, restore the track’s position after “ミュージック.” Its individual energy then contributes to the longer sequence’s momentum.

    Reference · Victor: original 2013 CD tracklist

Listen next

Compare Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Solid State Survivor for another era’s relationship between electronic pulse and memorable melody.

Solid State Survivor ↗
References & editorial note

Written for English readers. Album facts are referenced below; listening suggestions are editorial interpretations. AI-assisted editorial review; not independently human-reviewed.