The Fin. – J-Indie Rising

Deepest Ocean by The Fin.

Released: 21.01.22 / Label: Hip Land Music

After reviewing the remixed version of this track by BowAsWell I thought I’d give the original a proper listen and see what the source material was all about. But first, let’s talk about The Fin. a bit.

The Fin. began as a four member band back in 2012, and after rising to popularity on SoundCloud they found moderate success in Japan with their first album. This led to the group touring in the US and UK. Moving to the UK for a time and working with producer Bradley Spence and mastering engineer Joe Lambert on their second album. After moving back to Japan in 2018 they completed their third album Outer Ego, from which we get today’s track. Along the way the four became two, the drummer became the bassist, and of course the coronavirus killed the music touring industry. Check out this interview with vocalist Yuto Uchino from February 2022 to get a more in-depth account of the journey. For now, let’s take a listen to the song.

My first impression of the song is that I wish he’s picked a less aggressive synth sound for the hook. The song is very repetitive, and I think that helps convey the song’s message but boy does it get old fast. The song itself is very interesting and I like the compositional ideas he’s used. The arrangement remains interesting throughout, variations in the groove and the synth pads give it forward motion when really nothing is changing. The form is unique, with no real chorus section and an extended outro. And the repetition means that the small changes in form really pack a punch. But that synth sound, man. I could only listen to the track twice. Maybe it’s just my ears though.

The song’s meaning is well conveyed, his English writing is superb. He knows his limits so it stays simple and to the point. The production was all done by the vocalist as well it seems, and he did a pretty good job except for one sound…

Verdict: Worth your time (3.1/5)

★★★★★

Stream or download the track

Deepest Ocean – BowAsWell Remix by The fin.

Single Review / Electronic

Released: 22.06.08 / Label: HIP LAND MUSIC

Full disclosure, I’ve not heard the original song by The f in. yet (I will review that sometime next week) so this review is based purely on the merit of this track alone.

I’ve done all the usual digging and it’s been really hard to find any info on the artist BowAsWell for this review. Knowing that they are a producer from China named Yichi Zhang I figured out that he’s the keyboardist in this video. Waaay younger than I thought. And super funky. I don’t have much more than that, but I think it’s enough to put a face to the track this time.

The song starts out very strong with a nice tight groove but as soon as the synths come in it all just feels a bit washy. Certainly a fun vibe he’s got going, and I do like the vocal effects. But nothing really stuck out to me as incredible. The synths in the break down and the climax sections feel like they’re trying to punch above their weight, and I found myself checking the time to see if that was really the peak of the piece.

Production is good, and I like how clear everything sounds. I really like the sound of the vocals, there’s a real Daft Punk vibe going on. The cover is just reworked colors on the original song’s art, so very clear what this song is but nothing original.

He might be doing something really cool with the remix here and I’m missing it because I haven’t heard the original song. I’ll be reviewing that next week just to be sure, and if that’s the case I’ll come back and edit the review.

Verdict: Take it or leave it (2.6/5)

★★★★★

Stream or download the track