1) Hana ni Nare (When Flowers) 2) Harukaze (Spring Wind) 3) Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (~Light Bridge~) 4) 388859 5) Hello 6) labo 7) LOST 8) Mirai (Future) 9) Hana ni Nare (Instrumental) 10) Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (Instrumental)
Unreal is flumpool's debut mini album & it was released last year on 19th Nov .
The record contains 2 indie singles Mirai Kanai (renamed as Mirai in Unreal) & labo . You also can find 2 digital released singles Hana ni Nare (When Flowers) & Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (~Light Bridge~) in here too .
All the songs that I have mentioned received music videos of their own except for Mirai (Kanai) .
Hana ni Nare is the quartet's 1st digital single & it's also the 1st track to kick things off in Unreal .
It's also the longest no. in the album , clocking in at 6:25 mins & it was used as a campaign song for au KDDI "LISMO" & last year in Sept , it was used as promotion for SPACESHOWER TV's POWER PUSH .
This's the song that more or less started out my flumpool music journey after my friend Eirynne convinced me to try out the band's material . I was immediately hooked onto Hana ni Nare as I really adore the guitar riffs , strings & drums beats going on in the no. .
Despite being the longest track in Unreal , I don't mind it really as it more or less sets the bar on what you should expect for Unreal & also this's such a great song , it's hard not to get hooked when you 1st listened to it .
Harukaze (Spring Wind) is another song that receives a music video of its own & this's a great lovely mid tempo no. & it's yet another catchy song . You can find an acoustic take of Harukaze in the guys's 1st official debut single Hoshi ni Negai wo (Wish On A Star) which's lovely to boot .
Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ is flumpool's 2nd digital single before they started to release singles in physical CD format this year in Feb . It was used as the theme song for the dodrama Bloody Monday .
This's the album's 1st ballad & what a nice no. that the band delivered . Lead guitarist/vocalist Ryuuta is more or less in fine form in Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ & with such a gorgeous melody going on in Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ , what's there not to like about it ?
388859 is quite an angsty song & flumpool has so much energy & spunk in delivering this no. . It took me a while to remember on how 388859 sounds like & it doesn't really help that it's the only song on Unreal that has no.s in its song title .
But after that's out of the way , I have no problems remembering how 388859 sounds & I like this song now .
Hello is a slice of indie rock at its finest . It was a bit boring for me when I 1st listened to it though but after a few listens to Hello , I'm more or less ok with it but I will not consider it as my fave track in Unreal . It's like being included for the sake of inclusion to fill up Unreal , if you know what I mean .
labo is the group's 2nd indie single & it was the opening theme of TBS's CDTV last year in Aug .
Only 5,000 copies of the single were printed to be sold & you have 2 limited versions in the form of a Tower Records & a TSUTAYA RECORDS versions .
I find labo real charming & cute on 1st listen especially those English lines that Ryuuta sings in here & another highlight I feel when comes to labo is the guitar riffs & the drums beats that I adore .
LOST is the 2nd angsty driven no. in Unreal & compared to 388859 , I actually prefer LOST a bit more as it kept me entertained from the start to the end which's what I like that in LOST .
The final track on Unreal (since I will not be reviewing the instrumentals of Hana ni Nare & Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~) is Mirai (Future) . Its original title was Mirai Kanai & it was flumpool's 1st indie single .
I'm not sure why they renamed it as Mirai in here but in anycase , it doesn't matter so much as it's a pretty good slow no. which's pretty much the perfect song to close Unreal off nicely .
I really enjoyed listening to flumpool's debut mini album Unreal on whole . This record's pretty much a straight up rock affair , coupled with shades of indie thrown in for good measures .
I do hope that they're able to release their debut full length album sometime this or next year as this's 1 artiste which has been really growing on me musically ever since I decided to listen to their material from day 1 onwards & they haven't disappoint me on what they had to offer which's great .
Until then , the guys will be releasing their 2nd single MW ~Dear Mr. & Ms. Picaresque~ / Natsu (Summer) Dive on July 1st so be sure to keep a lookout for that .
Blog Personnel
Karen Pang
# 10th Jan
# #1 BREAKERZ fan in Singapore since 2008 debut single ♥
# My music blog consists of JPop/Rock singles & albums reviews that I put my heart , efforts & soul into writing them as I'm disgusted with the way that JPop/Rock music is being treated/written/reviewed in Singapore so to the local media (yes you TEENS , Teenage Magazine & The Strait Times) , screw you all . I basically can write better JPop/Rock reviews , period
