Beyond the Sea ~ The Style. Edition

SUPERMARKET FANTASY is Mr.Children’s 15th album and it was released on December 10, 2008. The album reached #1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 1,227,071 copies.

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Opening the album in a very upbeat fashion is Shuumatsu no Confidence Song. While the verses aren’t that interesting, I think the chorus is fantastic. Lead vocalist Kazutoshi Sakurai performs great high notes next to the cheery band driven arrangement. The most notable part of the song is the bridge where the music slows down and features brass, only to kick start back again into the catchy chorus.

HANABI, the band’s latest single, appears as track 2. This song has a mystical quality to it and I think it’s mostly thanks to the strong use of acoustics in the arrangement. The guitars, gentle strings, and piano are a great combination and they sound even better when the song reaches its finale after the bridge.

Up next is Esora, which served as the album’s main promotional track. This song is similar to HANABI, but it’s more upbeat and includes a lot of brass. I like this song but my only complaint is Sakurai’s freaky vocals that end the chorus.

A slower track follows and it has a nice, laid back alternative sound. Koe starts off pretty reserved but it transitions into an interesting chorus and I like how it begins with powerful vocals.

Featuring a darker and more serious tone in the music is Shounen. The band arrangement includes aggressive guitars and drums that are set to a deep alternative sound. The vocals are grittier as well and this song shows the more ”raw” side of Sakurai’s voice.

Tabidachi no Uta is next and it was the first single released for the album. This is a calm song that uses mainly strings with the regular band instruments. The highlight is by far the chorus because of the amount of emotion in Sakurai’s vocals.

Here comes another slew of new tracks! Kuchi ga Subete is a wonderfully cheerful song that has great strings and piano. There is also some synth that shows up from time to time so I thought that was a nice addition. I liked the positive attitude of the music as well and this song ranks as one of my favorites among the new tracks (alongside Shuumatsu no Confidence Song).

When it comes to overall sound, Suijou Bus is very simple. The music is very laid back and mostly acoustic but it does pick up with a drum beat after the first chorus. Even further into the song, the arrangement becomes quite jazzy as more instruments like an organ come in.

The next track has a similar mood to that of Kuchi ga Subete. Tokyo is very charming and upbeat, mixing cute chimes with strings and acoustic guitar. The chorus is my favorite part of the song because it’s bouncy and very pleasant.

With a title like Rock ‘n’ Roll, I was expecting something with lots of energy. We kind of get that in this song. The music is certainly upbeat but it has the same normal instrumentation like the previous tracks. However, there is a nice electric guitar solo during the bridge so that’s a redeeming factor. This is also the shortest song on the album, clocking in at 3 and a half minutes.

Two B-sides were included on the album and the first one to appear is Hitsuji, Hoeru, which was originally on the Tabidachi no Uta single. This is a good song but I thought the band released better B-sides during this era. Any of the tracks from the HANABI single would have been more favorable.

The other B-side is next and it’s a completely new version of Kaze to Hoshi to Moebius no Wa. The single version was on the GIFT single and that was just a simple piano ballad, but this new album version is radically different. The arrangement gets much more involved once things start cooking around the 2 minute mark. The music speeds up and becomes quite dramatic as the strings elevate to an orchestral scale. It’s quite impressive once that instrumental section arrives and Sakurai starts singing again.

My favorite single off the album is definitely GIFT. It’s such a inspirational song, especially near the end when the extra background vocals appear to next to Sakurai. This song wasn’t chosen as NHK’s 2008 Summer Olympics coverage theme song for nothing! There IS a feeling of unity and togetherness in this song and like I said when I reviewed it as a single: it’s absolutely phenomenal.

The album finally comes to a close with Hana no Nioi. The song was released as the band’s first digital single back in October. This mid-tempo ballad is excellent and has a calm, ambient sound to it thanks to gentle guitars and piano. The ending is what I find really amazing though. I love the closing instrumental and it honestly gives me the chills. The marching band rhythm of the drums mixed with constant piano and guitar riffs is really uplifting and it provides closure for this album.

SUPERMARKET FANTASY was a tough album to review. Individually, most of the tracks are very similar to one another but in this case, that’s not a bad thing. I think every track was executed very well and vocalist Kazutoshi Sakurai once again displays his incredible songwriting skills. That’s not to say that there were tracks that did stand out though (my favorites included Shuumatsu no Confidence Song, Kuchi ga Subete, and GIFT). In the end, this all relates to the album’s overall theme as well. Like with their previous album HOME (which had a “family” theme), SUPERMARKET FANTASY talks about the extraordinary things that we can experience in everyday life. I think this is something that anyone could relate to and it’s the main reason why I enjoyed this album as much as I did. It’s honestly better to listen to the album then for me to just explain things to you…because I had a hard time doing that. LOL

Overall Rating

4½ stars

Tracklisting

1. Shuumatsu no Confidence Song (終末のコンフィデンスソング)
2. HANABI
3. Esora (エソラ)
4. Koe (声)
5. Shounen (少年)
6. Tabidachi no Uta (旅立ちの唄)
7. Kuchi ga Subete (口がすべって)
8. Suijou Bus (水上バス)
9. Tokyo (東京)
10. Rock ‘n’ Roll (ロックンロール)
11. Hitsuji, Hoeru (羊、吠える)
12. Kaze to Hoshi to Moebius no Wa (風と星とメビウスの輪)
13. GIFT
14. Hana no Nioi (花の匂い)

Note: My favorite tracks are highlighted in blue!