CD Review :: flumpool - Fantasia of Life Stripe
CD Regular
CD Limited ; comes with a bonus disc Fantezie muzicala de curcubeul vietii (Fantasia of Life Stripe - Bloody Remix -) & a 48 page booklet
1) Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You)
2) two of us
3) reboot ~Akiramenai Uta~ (~Do Not Give Up Song~)
4) Snowy Nights Serenade ~Kokoro Made mo Tsunagitai~ (~I Want To Connect Even To Your Heart~)
5) Tokyo Aika (Elegy)
6) Music Surfer
7) Boku wa Koko ni Iru (I'm Here)
8) Kimi no Tame no 100 no Moshi mo (100 If's For You)
9) Kono Jidai wo Ikinuku Tame ni (For The Sake Of Surviving This Era)
10) Nagareboshi (Shooting Star)
11) Guilt
12) Shiori (Bookmark)
13) Vega ~Kako to Mirai no Hokkyokusei~ (The Polestar Of Past And Future)
14) Zanzou (After Image)
Fantasia of Life Stripe is flumpool's 2nd album & it was released last month on 26th Jan .
The quartet's 2nd album includes 3 singles in the CD tracklist .
Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) is flumpool's 5th single & it was used as the theme song of the movie which shares the same title as the song starring Miura Haruma .
Honestly I wasn't surprised that Kimi ni Todoke kick things off in Fantasia of Life Stripe since it's the most recent single before the album was released . It's still a good song to listen to .
two of us is the 1st album track & it was used as the theme song for Fuji TV's Ainori 2 from last Christmas onwards .
This song is 1 of 2 album tracks that receives a music video .
I don't like two of us on 1st listen but as time goes by , the song has grown on me quite a fair bit .
reboot ~Akiramenai Uta~ (~Do Not Give Up Song~) is the 1st A-side of flumpool's 4th single reboot ~Akiramenai Uta~ / Nagareboshi .
The song has an impressive grand introduction , that could sum up a glimpse of the band's mature songwriting & lyrics .
According to lead singer Ryuuta , 'Everything so far has been our chapter 1 & this new song is the beginning of our second chapter .
The word reboot means to start up again & it includes how I'd like us to overcome whatever hardships we have together .'
reboot ~Akiramenai Uta~ was used as the theme song for NTV's programmes providing coverage of the World Cup in South Africa last year , in support of the Japanese soccer team .
Snowy Nights Serenade ~Kokoro Made mo Tsunagitai~ (~I Want To Connect Even To Your Heart~) was used as last Dec's ending theme song for TV Asahi's Onegai ! Ranking & it's the 2nd album track to get a music video after two of us .
I reviewed Snowy Nights Serenade ~Kokoro Made mo Tsunagitai~ a while back ago but it was the Xmas ver. that I wrote my opinions about . As such naturally , I was wondering what was the difference between the Xmas ver. & album versions of Snowy Nights Serenade ~Kokoro Made mo Tsunagitai~ .
Melody wise , both share the same tune but there's a slight difference at the end of the album take of Snowy Nights Serenade ~Kokoro Made mo Tsunagitai~ , lyrically but other than that , both takes of the song are generally the same .
Still , Snowy Nights Serenade ~Kokoro Made mo Tsunagitai~ is pretty & it's nice that flumpool make such a nice song for their 1st Christmas inspired track .
Tokyo Aika (Elegy) is the next album track & I feel this can be considered 1 of my fave album tracks from the group .
I'm not sure why but I just like that angst driven feeling Tokyo Aika gives out & it's 1 song that has plenty of attitude attached to it .
Music Surfer follows after Tokyo Aika & ah I have vibes of Natsu (Summer) Dive when I 1st listen to Music Surfer .
It's not a bad thing since Natsu Dive is 1 of my fave flumpool singles even up to now .
Boku wa Koko ni Iru (I'm Here) is track #7 & I find the melody for Boku wa Koko ni Iru very pretty & charming .
Especially the opening where it has this really unique sound which's able to separate itself from the other album tracks out of the lot which's cool .
Kimi no Tame no 100 no Moshi mo (100 If's For You) is quite a standard song from flumpool . I like the song title but I'm not feeling that much love for this no. as much as I want to appericate it .
Likewise for Kono Jidai wo Ikinuku Tame ni (For The Sake Of Surviving This Era) , another song that has a nice title . Kono Jidai wo Ikinuku Tame ni is slightly better if not much more memorable than Kimi no Tame no 100 no Moshi mo .
Nagareboshi is the 2nd A-side of flumpool's 4th single reboot ~Akiramenai Uta~ / Nagareboshi .
The 2nd A-side was described as a song which's likened to a chance meeting with the shooting of live encounters with fans that support the band on a regular basis .
Guilt is the 3rd last album track in Fantasia of Life Stripe .
The opening for Guilt is quite subtle but after a while , an angsty rather feeling gets unleashed from within which I enjoy .
Shiori (Bookmark) follows after Guilt . I'm quite neutral over Shiori in that I neither like or dislike the song .
I feel there's something lacking about Shiori though .
Vega ~Kako to Mirai no Hokkyokusei~ (The Polestar Of Past And Future) is the last album track in Fantasia of Life Stripe .
Other than Music Surfer & Tokyo Aika , I feel that Vega ~Kako to Mirai no Hokkyokusei~ is 1 of the standout tracks as it has a lot of spunk & I enjoy listening to it from the start til the end .
I suppose sometimes good things are worth waiting for & I guess Vega ~Kako to Mirai no Hokkyokusei~ fits the bill very well .
Zanzou (After Image) is flumpool's 3rd single & it was used as the theme song used in the 2nd season of Bloody Monday starring Miura Haruma .
Other than being the earliest single included in Fantasia of Life Stripe , it's also the final song found in the album .
Zanzou is quite a fitting ending for the album & I wasn't surprised it's slotted way at the back , which I feel it's only right to conclude the album with Zanzou .
Concidentally or not , the tracklist for Fantasia of Life Stripe starts & ends with flumpool's most recent & earliest single release & each single release has a promo tie in associated with Miura Haruma .
Overall , much as I dislike to say this but flumpool somehow has fallen into the 2nd album music syndrome especially for their latest album release Fantasia of Life Stripe .
It was a bit difficult for me to listen to Fantasia of Life Stripe , especially since quite a lot of the album tracks sounded really samey if not un-memorable which's a big pity because I do enjoy listening to their older works & let alone , their 1st mini album Unreal was a real gem .
I realised that their material in recent times are not as good/prominent as before in the sense that from reboot ~Akiramenai Uta~ / Nagareboshi onwards , flumpool's music started to go off key & I wasn't able to detect any unique/distinct traits , unlike in the case of Hoshi ni Negai wo (Wish Upon A Star) & also MW ~Dear Mr. & Ms. Picaresque~ / Natsu Dive which are both fantastic singles in their own respective right .
Also , I wasn't impressed with a lot of album tracks found in Fantasia of Life Stripe as they either sound similar to something that flumpool used to do , if not rather un-inspiring .
Still , I haven't give up on flumpool because I feel that they're a really talented so band hopefully in their next single/album release , they will prove me wrong & escape the dreaded music rut .
But I guess for now , I'm going back to listen to their older works for the time being to enjoy for nostaglic reasons .
