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Some time ago, an incredible compilation came out of Japan (featuring a number of Japanese, American, and other international shoegaze bands) that floored the listening community. The sounds that burst from Seven Winters, filled our ears with incredible shoegaze sounds that expanded the term "shoegaze" and what the term even meant. Seven Winters featured amazing songs from bands like the furious Ca-P (one of my faves), Airiel, Astrobrite, and a whole host of Japanese acts that amazed listeners with their music. Now, several years after the release of that mind-boggling collection of songs, one of the previously unknown bands featured on Seven Winters has released a full-length CD of their own unique take on the shoegaze sound. Hartfield is that band. Hailing from Japan, Hartfield play a very pleasant-sounding, melodic style of shoegaze rock that soothes the listener. Not unlike The Lassie Foundation's Pacifico, Hartfield's full-length debut, True Color, True Lie features sighing male and female vocals, soaring pop melodies, all delivered with a healthy does of syrupy guitars. A good example of this sound if the scarily titled "She Bangs" (am I the only whose mind conjures up frightening images of a Ricky Martin-William Hung hybrid?). Thankfully, Hartfield delivers an original song, full of exquisite harmonied-duet vocals, jangly guitars mixed with more fuzzy sounding guitars, and a quick tempo. The melody of this song is catchy enough to be on Top 40 radio, but the band adds just enough dissonance in the music to add depth to the song, while ensuring its lack of radio play. Another gorgeous song, "Blow Away", takes a slower, more deliberate approach. Featuring buried male Japanese vocals, thick layers of guitar, and an achingly beautiful melody, "Blow Away" moves the listener. While much of Hartfield trademark sound of sunny melodies envolped in shoegaze bliss can be attributed to the band's musical skill, no doubt their sound on True Color, True Lie benefitted greatly from the mix of Scott Cortez, the visionary American behind Astrobrite, Lovesliescrushing, and a host of other amazing shoegaze and dreampop projects. Cortez's influence is perhaps best noted in the fluid "Girl Like You", which is a rerecorded version of Hartfield's Seven Winters offering. This new version, complete with back-tracking guitar lines, dense but light walls of guitars, and flowing female vocals, sounds even crisper and more poised than the Seven Winters version. "Stand by Me" also benefits greatly from the Cortez mix, as Hartfield slowly builds their song layer by precious layer to an epic sounding climax. At the end of the 7 1/2 minute song, the listener is treated to an explosion of glorious sound. It's safe to assume that Hartfield is more of a pop-oriented shoegaze band, with songs like "Stand by Me" present on True Color, True Lie, the band showcases their ability to patiently create blissful songs. Ultimately, True Color, True Lie is a very, very pleasant listen for fans of shoegaze music. By combining accessible melody with the sonics that have always been associated with shoegaze, Hartfield has also created a CD that is an excellent reference point for any newcomer to the shoegaze ideal. With style and substance, Hartfield lives up to the Seven Winters hype. (True Color, True Lie is released simultaneously in the USA by shoegaze super-label Clairecords, and in Japan by Vinyl Junkie Recordings. The US version of True Color, True Lie contains 13 tracks for just over 1 hour of music, and contains two exclusive tracks.) reviewed by: Somewhere Cold |
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When My Bloody Valentine released Loveless 14 years ago, it kicked off a revolution of swirling, noisy melodic pop. Besides its own massive influence on the sounds of the ’90s, Loveless devotees such as Radiohead and Blur have gone on to themselves be touchstones of modern rock music. But Kevin Shields can’t have possibly guessed that the ripple effect of the gazed-upon shoe he dropped in pop’s pond would still be felt, all these years and zero MBV albums later. In Tokyo.
But it’s Tokyo, Japan, where we find Hartfield, essentially the duo of Takateru Kagawa and Yukari Tanaka enhanced by a variety of bassists and drummers, creating some of the most intensely lush, noisy, acquiescent guitar pop of the past decade-plus. (Shall we call it “J-Buzz”?) Introduced to America via Clair Records -- the boutique label for U.S. shoegazy pop -- the now-five-year-old Hartfield released True Color, True Lie here last year, an album with the unique pedigree of already being adored by both Japanese and Korean fans. On True Color and the subsequent L.I.B.R.A. EP, Hartfield proves itself a worthy successor to the likes of MBV and, perhaps more particularly, Slowdive. Swooning, shimmering, effect-laden guitars surround submissive, breathy vocals to create a sonic tunnel syndrome; it feels like Hartfield’s music is going twice as fast, twice as loud, as it is. Check out “A Sorrowful Heartland,” on which Yukari (every proper shoegazer’s current crush) and Takateru mesh their deeply buried vocals similarly to the creaking, chugging guitar noises, to become just another atmospheric buzz in the air, leaving just the melancholy taste such sweet psycho-candy. reviewed by: Justin Hopper for the Pittsburgh City Paper |
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Ok, non è bello parlare di un altro artista nella recensione di un altro ancora, ma è davvero una questione di onestà se premetto che mentre la necessità mi pone di fronte alla recensione degli shoegazers giapponesi Hartfield io trascorro le mie giornate ascoltando una sola canzone: "Jens Lekman's Farewellsong to Rocky Dennis" (l'autore svedese e il suo moniker sono inclusi nel titolo). In due parole: la più bella canzone ascoltata quest'anno. Ma perché non m'esimo? Beh, perché ora le mie pretese sono alte. Ci sono tanti strumenti in questa song, ma sembrano pochissimi, chitarra, piano, basso, batteria, handclaps, voce (ah, che voce) - eppure procedendo, tutto sembra un silenzio, avvolgente; la melodia carezza la quiete universale nella mia anima.
Ora skippo rapidamente su "True Color, True Lie", e la durata in fondo al winamp mi segnala un'ora, sei minuti e quindici secondi. (Della mia vita; aggiungo) Parte il primo pezzo, "Reason", c'è una chitarra sola, e produce un chiasso tenuto a freno solo dalla compressione di un buon limiter; le voci (due: male/female perfettamente sovrapposte, con preponderanza nel mix di quella maschile) sono in buona sostanza la quintessenziale aderenza al canone shoegazer …se solo riuscissi a concentrarmi un secondo vi direi anche in che disco dei primi anni '90 erano mixate nella medesima proporzione, con il medesimo anodino, monolitico impatto sul complesso del suono. "Girl like you" a seguire, che pure con un piccolo fraseggio di chitarra mandato in backwards sembra porre un argine all'a-tematicità del tutto (non è misoginia, eh) è una canzone che ho già sentito, ma mi ri-giunge sbiadita come una cartolina dal passato, con la bruma degli anni appiccicata sull'immagine già astratta dell'ordito. Non male, davvero, ma, troverà mai la via dell'anima? O quantomeno quella più facile della memoria? "True Color" (la terza) per fortuna è bruttarella, e martella due accordi su una melodia scialbetta e troppo insistita. "Wonderful World", nella sua pacatezza, sa farsi preferire; chitarra dimessa, arrangiamentini non ingombranti e voce confidenziale. Sbiadisce subito ma che importa? La successiva "Nineball" - che sembra il pezzo più rappresentativo - (è il pezzo che dovreste ascoltare se v'interessasse un'idea rapida degli Hartfield): buona linea melodica, ma inessenziale, se capite cosa intendo; graziosa, gassosa e in ultimo inoffensiva. Togliamo i feedback, la rodata efficacia del cantato unisonico, e la (illusoria) patina extra-nazionale del suono e, beh, Pupo (Enzo Ghinazzi) non faceva forse affidamento sulla stessa ipersemplificazione melodica? Boh, certo, come spiegare a un fan del gruppo e del genere le difficoltà omeriche che il recensore attempato attraversa per giungere (fra tanta noia senza Circi) in fondo all'abbondante ora del disco? (L'ho ascoltato, però, giuro). Immaginate un disco revivalista shoegaze europeo medio (chessò, Meeting Places o Fiel Garvie) aggiungetegli una normale patina nippo/teenagero/zuccherosa ulteriormente appiattente, ed ecco, beh, ecco…son certo che il vostro prossimo gelato al cioccolato avrà un sapore senz'ombra di dubbio dolce, ma, ecco, sì, sì, anche un po' salato. reviewed by: Justin Hopper for the Pittsburgh City Paper |
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