Featured Review #9 - Rhapsody in Beauty by The Novembers

[fitear1590 2414]

Artist: THE NOVEMBERS         Album: Rhapsody in beauty         Score:         Fifth time's a charm, right?

With five albums and a number of EPs under their belt, THE NOVEMBERS have had a hand in the Japanese indie scene for years. Their first EP was released in 2007, but I didn't take the time to listen to them until their third EP, GIFT, in 2012. With no disrespect to their beginnings, they started off as a better-than-average band playing good ol' angular indie rock. They've since evolved into so much more, adopting heavy shoegaze influences. Their most recent releases exhibit a louder, darker sound. So what does their fifth album Rhapsody in beauty have in store?

The album kicks off with the noisy intro 救世なき巣 (or Xenakis as it's known on the English version of the tracklist). The instrumental features a dense concoction of airy synths and layers of atmospheric distortion. It begins in a chaotic and foreboding manner, but then slowly develops into something blissful. I find myself zoning out to the second half with its euphoric heaviness. It clocks in at almost six minutes, so impatient listeners might find themselves reaching for the skip button. Next up, Sturm und Drang opens with a bang, or rather a shriek. The title, a reference to the German literary period characterized by passion and an outpouring of emotion, is spot-on. The energetic punk riffs, screams, and distortion-filled outbursts conjure up the notion of "Storm and Stress." Due to the repetitive notes in the first half of the track and Yusuke's extremely distant, unintelligible vocals, this track reads like an interlude. Considering it just followed a lengthy instrumental opener, the structure of the album is off to a perplexing start.

You could say the album gets underway with Xeno and Blood Music.1985. Both songs continue the darker, alternative sound the band began to explore on their previous two releases, Fourth wall and zeitgeist. Expect hi-octane riffs, crashing drums, and powerful, fuzzy bass. Without being predictable, these two choruses have a signature flow that instantly let you know "This is a NOVEMBERS" track. But the best vocal work is yet to come. tu m'(Parallel Ver,) slows things down for a ballad with a hypnotic guitar loop. If you're wondering what "Parallel Ver," refers to, this song is a rerecording from the band's second album Misstopia. This version is noticeably slower than the 2010 one, which in retrospect sounds rushed. This new rendition sounds the way the song was meant to be. The following title track is a rockier approach to the calmer sound just presented. Built around the siren-like guitar riff that repeats throughout the track, Rhapsody in beauty is a dreamy romp into sublime shoegaze territory. Yusuke's vocals simultaneously tread the line between effortless ennui and ecstasy. 236745981 guides you back to the gloomy dark side. About two-thirds through the song, all the distortion is lifted and the song begins to sound like a classic Strokes song! The change is abrupt, but both sections are enjoyable. It's up to you to decide whether the track was patched together convincingly enough. dumb provides one final helping of brooding NOVEMBERS goodness. A deliberate beat and mysterious synths establish a melancholy mood and to top it off, Yusuke shows off a selection of vocal styles: chanting, soaring falsettos, and his gruff scream.

Romancé begins the last leg of the album. A short percussive intro leads into a section of feathery soft synths and jangly guitar riffs. So begins my favorite album track and one of my favorite NOVEMBERS tracks, period; I'm not sure anything will top Reunion with Marr from GIFT, but this is a damn good attempt. The intro reminds me of something defunct dream pop band Hotel Mexico might have done. But it would be unfair to compare Yusuke to Hotel Mexico's vocalist. Beyond the rich vocals and beautiful harmonies in the second half of the song, everything is in place on Romancé from the breathy synths to the tight basslines and, dare I say, perfect guitar. Sit back, close your eyes, and relax. Heaven must sound something like this. This gentle beast of an album closes with 僕らはなんだったんだろう (Bokurawa Nandattan Darou), a gorgeous acoustic ballad. Despite its length, the song never overstays its welcome. Slowly, the song unfolds in front you. Yusuke delivers an emotional and delicate performance. Matching that, the sole guitar doesn't hide behind any production tricks. You can hear every single strum and twang of the guitar strings. Track two might represent the more violent, visceral side of Sturm und Drang, but this track represents the counterpoint; it's equally as emotional, albeit in a different way.

Although the best NOVEMBERS release remains GIFT for me, I do tend to prefer their softer, dreamier side. Having said that, Rhapsody in beauty is my favorite album of theirs. It's more memorable and varied than zeitgeist and more consistent than any of their pre-2011 material. I could listen to Yusuke's vocals all day long and this album is further confirmation that he is one of the freshest and most versatile voices in the Japanese indie scene right now. While not without its minor structural flaws, this is a hell of an album, sure to make appearances on many a Monochromium's Album of the Year list. Whether you'd rather float aimlessly through the clouds with Romancé or fuck shit up to the tune of Blood Music.1985, THE NOVEMBERS have you covered. Anyone with even a marginal interest in Japanese indie rock/alternative/shoegaze owes it to themself to check out THE NOVEMBERS' Rhapsody of beauty. You'll be glad you did!

What did you think about the album?

[CAT5 9075]

Thanks so much for reviewing this album, fitear! It's a great review and while I may feel differently about certain tracks, I think our overall sentiment about this album and THE NOVEMBERS in general is similar. Like zeitgeist, this one was love at first listen and is probably my fav. release by THE NOVEMBERS so far.

I really appreciate how they deliberately made the production on the first few tracks distorted, harsh, and abrasive. To me, that's a symbol of their DIY attitude and a big "fuck you" to the major music industry. I mean, here's a band that could have EASILY took the safe route and tried to appeal to the mainstream, jpop, or anime crowd, and yet they've never sacrificed their sound for fame. They just keep growing and experimenting and the results have all been wonderful so far. I don't know what these guys have tapped into, but they've become something really special and I hope they continue to deliver. I have a feeling that THE NOVEMBERS will be revered by future generations and that their work won't simply fade off into obscuity.

[Zeus 7997]

I'm listening to the album as I type this now, and the first three tracks are impressive in different ways. This is some quality indie rock I need to catch up on.

[Ito 2438]

I just finished my third attempt to make it through this album. Zeitgeist was my first time listening to the band and I really enjoyed it. I wish I could say that same for Rhapsody. I feel like I have the opposite view point as Cat does. Where he see's at it as a band taking their own route and doing something unique when they could have played it safe I feel like they are trying to hard to be grungy and I feel like I am having "LOOK AT US WE ARE UNPOLISHED AND UNIQUE" shouted at me.

My biggest problems with this albums comes with its intentional unpolished, borderline noise, quality of the album. And it's not that I don't like it when bands do this as there are some that I can really enjoy when they get it right (Boris is the first one that pops in to my mind). Perhaps this is something unique to me, but I hate the sound of guitars that are so far distorted that they bring out that grainy sound that reminds me of listening to a low bitrate song...maybe it's just a case for me that there is a fine line between "fuzz" and low quality and The Novembers steps across that line for me on tracks like Sturm und Drang, Blood Music.1985, and the one they named by mashing their first on to the numpad.

There are songs like Rhapsody in beauty that I want to like but that siren like just ends up grating on me too much. Xeno feels a bit too stock imo and tu m' and Bokurawa Nandattan Darou just come off as snoozefests imo. Xenakis goes the ambient/noise route, and since I have always had a hard time enjoying ambient music because I need a bit more of a bite to my songs to keep me interested, so this is pretty much is an immediate skip for me.

This leaves dumb and Romancé as the standout tracks of the album for me. And while they are good, I can't say that they blow me away.

All in all Rhapsody feels like a huge miss to me. And while I don't fault anyone for liking it, I doubt I will ever spin this album again.

[CAT5 9075]

I feel like I have the opposite view point as Cat does. Where he see's at it as a band taking their own route and doing something unique when they could have played it safe I feel like they are trying to hard to be grungy and I feel like I am having "LOOK AT US WE ARE UNPOLISHED AND UNIQUE" shouted at me.

Well you see that's the thing - this sound isn't unique or special at all - there are a plethora of Japanese underground/indie bands with noisy, abrasive sounds - and for THE NOVEMBERS to take their sound in this direction is anything, but pretentious imo - in fact, there's little, if any glory in taking your sound in direction that's not especially lucrative in Japan. Also, if you go back and listen to their older material, you'll see that their progression to this sound has been in the making for a long time, so this isn't the case of a band changing their sound overnight in an attempt to sound different.

Also, from what I've been told from friends who have seen the band live, their live set was already noisy/abrasive/loud, so I imagine that the band probably wanted to capture that more accurately on record. And to be fair, the entire album isn't noisy, it's just the first 4 tracks, and maybe a few instances in the later shoegazy tracks - which is to be expected since that "wall-of-noise" sound is kind of a staple in shoegaze.

I'd personally recommend you their album "To (melt into)"...the production is more agreeable, but it's also a much softer album overall too - no straightforward or "punchy" rock tracks.

[enyx 903]

I have to agree with Cat here. You can go all the way back to Misstopia, which I personally consider to be the beginning of their transition from a 'slightly-better-than-average' indie band to one of the leading bands in the scene, and still find quite a few unpolished, noisy tracks like Figure 0, Gilmore guilt more, Dysphoria, etc that foreshadow the sort of stuff you hear on Rhapsody in beauty.

 

Personally I quite like the album with the exception of a couple of tracks, namely tu m' (Parallel Ver,) and 僕らはなんだったんだろう. I actually really like the siren guitar in the title track. Overall I'd say it sits on a similar level to zeitgeist, which is definitely a good thing.