vistlip - LAYOUT

[hiroki 5521]

 

 

This is my first review here, so please be kind XD I guess it also doesn’t hurt to confess at the outset that I’m writing from the perspective of an unabashedly passionate vistlip fan. So… fair warning for people looking for unbiased reviews.

I’ve been looping LAYOUT since its release and I think I’ve soaked in it enough to form a fairly stable opinion of it (around 30 repetitions). While I haven’t had the time to go around canvassing opinions from my friends, at this point I can say that I definitely like it more than CHRONUS, and maybe a little less than THEATER, which remains my favorite vistlip album (if only because that's their very first album, and it's special for the fact that there can always only be one "first" time). I still can't decide if I like ORDER MADE or LAYOUT more! But overall, LAYOUT is an extremely satisfying album. I apologize for not doing a track-by-track review; I’m terrible at that as I prefer to focus on the "emergent" qualities of the album instead of the nitty-gritty details. Maybe someone else will review the individual tracks below.

Structurally, the album’s track placement is impeccable. REM SLEEP, released previously as their promotional PV, wastes no time in pulling the listener immediately into the classic vistlip soundscape. For me this track operates as a prelude to the trio of songs constituting the nexus of the entire album (Idea - World is mine. - By the rain.) which consolidates the signature sound that will continue to reverberate through the rest of the album. Flanked by My second B-day. / Catastrophe on one side and ROACH / Good girl gone bed. on the other, the soft and seductive core of the album is shielded by these harder, more intense tracks (reminiscent of vistlip releases like GLOSTER) that textures the overall experience as one pulls away from the mellow central portion. Period and Jack (title tracks of their last 2 singles) have been deployed by the band as the album’s 2nd and 2nd last tracks, allowing the listener to begin and end the album on a comfortably familiar note without either track being unnecessarily obtrusive to the extent that they steal the show from the new songs. Finally, LAYOUT (the track) is the proverbial icing on the cake that provides a nice denouement and closure to the album.

It's a simple but elegant setup (I’m almost tempted to say 'layout' XD); because the mistake a lot of potentially good albums make is a lack of organization, as a result of which an album that boasts many interesting ideas ends up meandering nowhere in particular and fizzling out because you simply can't tell where it's leading you. With LAYOUT, the division of labor between the tracks is clear and everything fits perfectly into an integrated whole anchored by a strong conceptual scaffolding. It's nothing too complicated, but sometimes less is more. So while it isn't exactly a roller-coast ride of an album with its share of surprises and shocks, there's scarcely any place for the superfluous.

Tohya composed most of the songs in this album, except 4 songs which were written by Yuh. Track-wise, my favorite songs off the album are Idea, REM SLEEP, World is mine., By the rain. (roughly in descending order). I'm a sucker for pop-rock with a nice beat and groove, performative vocals, and evocative lyrics. Idea is sooo pretty I need to reserve special praise for it. An energetic song driven by its robust chorus (ohh I swear vistlip kills the vi-IV-I-V progression) and Tomo's hypnotic vocals sweeping effortlessly across the mid-high range, Idea belongs in the same category as vistlip songs like CHIMERA, inc., PERFECT CRIME, insofar as they all have the characteristic bittersweet sound which never fails to gives me goosebumps ._. I can't exactly describe it: these songs are upbeat, forward-looking, yet tinged ever so subtly by a shade of 重み [idk how to translate this word.. “heaviness”?] beneath the surface. Consequently the attentive listener gets a lingering sense of something more going on – an undertow, perhaps, that does just enough to keep the album from meekly collapsing into an unrestrained celebration of optimism.

(A digression: some time ago I saw someone asking a new band on Twitter whether their sound would be 明るい (“bright”) or 暗い (“dark”), and then I realize that’s such a painfully reductive way of conceptualizing a band’s sound, because any band worth their salt would surely have enough facets in their music to transcend that simple dichotomy.)

Finally:

I'm just really excited that vistlip always strives to break new ground, but keeps enough of what makes them unmistakably vistlip. It’s a tough balance to be had. Among bands who've managed to last more than 5 years some try too hard to expand their sound where, at some point, fans can't help but pause and question if this is the band that they used to like; and then there are others who go on surreptitiously recycling their old materials until fans are bored and eventually put off. Thankfully, with vistlip this hasn’t happened, and I’m quietly confident neither of these scenarios will happen as the band soldiers on towards their 10th anniversary.

I didn't intend to give a rating, but if I have to it'll be around 8.5-9 out of 10. I’m sure my review could have been better, although if it actually manages to pique the interest of casual vistlip listeners or people who haven’t tried vistlip then I’ve succeeded in what I'd set out to do

Now let’s hear what others have to say about this! What do you like / not like about LAYOUT?

[shinobu. 252]

Thanks for the review! Will check out their new album! Heard only but good things about vistlip!

[beni 2149]

As you already know, I adore their THEATER album so seeing as you love that one as much as this one is interesting and great to read. Hopefully that'll encourage more listens itself since THEATER is such a flawless release. The intro, 'To be awake is to be alive.' is particularly enjoyable and hooked me in quickly for the kickass tracks. 'REM SLEEP' and 'Idea' both really stood out to me on the first half of the album. It was my first time listening to the single tracks and they were also really catchy, if not more so. Another I really enjoyed was 'By the rain.'. And I very much agree that the track order is well done! I see my favourite from the album is in your top picks. World is mine. is just perfecto~

 

 

Fantastic review by the way, I hope to see more from you!

 

Edit: We have the same fav tracks. x'D

Edited March 23, 2015 by beni

[yakihiko 1480]

Good review (:

I listened to the full album, and sounds in my opinion better then THEATER.

My favorites are MY SECOND B-DAY, REM SLEEP and LAYOUT.

[cirrus 75]

Nice review hiroki!

 

LAYOUT was really awesome for me. The preview for REM SLEEP blew me away when I first listened to it, and after listening to the whole album I was definitely not disappointed.

 

My fave tracks out of the new songs are definitely (not in order):

1) REM SLEEP

2) By the rain.

3) Good girl gone bed.

4) Idea

 

Even though I'm usually a bigger fan of tracks portraying the more classic vistlip sound (composed mostly by Tohya) and generally tend to gravitate away from harsh vocals and heavier songs, I really liked Good girl gone bed. for some reason. I just felt good listening to it. Overall, every song was nice in the album and I really liked how each of them flowed together perfectly into a whole album. vistlip is definitely one of those rare bands with amazingly talented members who can constantly produce quality releases without fail.

[cirrus 75]

Oh I forgot to add my number 1 track in the whole album is definitely "By the rain."

Love that song a lot. Definitely going into my overall list of top 10 vistlip songs.

[Tetora 625]

I really relate to the way the sound and feel was described. The mix of an often cheerful expression of something that a lot of sad or unfulfilled emotion lays behind. The music and vocals really give off a multi-layered tone, which is one of the things I found most interesting. It makes even simple moments have more depth, and it feels like everything has some kind of backstory.

 

I felt that REM is one of the biggest show-stealer`s in recent memory, and was a great way to sell the album to me, after I heard the Promo for that, I had to buy this. And I wasn`t disappointed, as I see the album as amazingly cohesive, and consistent. I had them play the album on the sound system when I was getting my hair done about a week ago, and since I was there for such a long time, the album had a chance to loop, yet the album passes so smoothly and seamlessly, that it almost feels like a mini. There are a good amount of tracks, yet they flow so easily and have such a united tone that never gives you the feeling that some albums may have, where there is that `stretch` in between the songs you like most, or the part that doesn`t quite fit. The hits just keep coming.

 

For me, REM was the anchor of the album, and the center-piece. I like all of the songs, but World is mine. is one that also really stands out as another favorite. Again, the mix of cheerful disposition with something looming in the background really resonates with me. Overall, I get that `reaching` feeling from the sound, which I always love; like the vocalist is either being pulled towards something, or trying to get to something that just can`t seem to be acquired, and the music is the soundtrack to his desires in life.

 

Besides this I only have their Gloster release, but I am now a much bigger fan, and will be looking into their older material, as well as waiting for all of their future works.