Beyond the Sea ~ The Style. Edition

Tracklisting
1. Sakurabito (サクラビト)
2. Ophelia_act1 (オフェリア_act1)
3. Sakurabito (Instrumental)
4. Ophelia_act1 (Instrumental)

This is Every Little Thing’s 34th single and it was released on February 13, 2008. The single reached #9 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 24,045 copies.

Sakurabito is a traditional flavored ballad from Every Little Thing. With oriental styled instruments and a slower, more laid back arrangement, the song has a simple formula. The verses are calm and accompanied by minimal strings and piano while the chorus showcases an accumulation of these sounds coming together at a faster rate. It sounds quite dramatic overall, but I wasn’t really feeling it unfortunately.

The B-side is a very unique offering from the band. Ophelia_act1 is inspired by traditional European music, rampant with accordions and a constant marching band like rhythm. The melody is very simple, only consisting of vocalist Kaori Mochida singing different variations of la la la throughout the entire track. At the end. she says “Ophelia“, the only actual word in the song. On an interesting note, this is just “act 1″ and there will be an ”act 2″ appearing on the band’s upcoming album Door as the final track. I am now intrigued as to see how the song will continue.

Overall Rating

3 stars