Keiongaku

The first full-length album released under the name After Soul, following the change from "Ryoichi Yamada and After Soul" to "After Soul."
The album features the first official recordings of songs that have long brought the band's live shows to life, including "Goraku," which sings of the loneliness that entertainment can never quite fill, no matter how completely it surrounds us, as well as the yearning of falling in love and the frustrations of love itself; "Orutana Kun," which cries out over a direct, driving bass riff with all the conviction and affection that come with embracing an alternative identity; "Zen no Yado," which reveals the happiness shared by two lovers alone, fraught with contradictions and shadowed by its own fragility; "Kotoba no Bouryoku," which hurls words at those who run their mouths from the sidelines, as if to say, "I've finally had enough"-"You idiots, die, and vanish into emptiness"; and "Ogensho," whose seemingly opposing sounds and lyrics poignantly capture the perspective of a protagonist watching a radiant couple from the sidelines.
The album also includes new recordings, with the current lineup, of songs that have become live staples. Among them are "Aventure," whose lyrics may initially seem to depict a fleeting affair, yet reveal a multitude of themes the deeper one reads, offering a richness of language that resists any single interpretation; "Gone Girl," which weaves words around a distinctive pentatonic refrain, evoking a mysterious girl who is no longer here, with a deft interplay of language and sound; and "Saitei no Futari," in which the desire to proclaim a modest, tender love to the world-even if society might consider it the lowest of the low-is sung over a guitar sound that is both direct and razor-edged.
Catchy throughout, yet intricately crafted in every respect, from its words and melodies to its arrangements, this is a landmark work in Japanese rock.