Released: 22.05.27 / Label: Damnably Records
A J-indie rock band already making waves overseas, but how does their lead single hold up?
Hazy Sour Cherry is a Tokyo based rock group formed in Shimokitazawa, and very much entrenched in the garage band rock sound that the area is known for. They’ve been working with an English label who featured them at SXSW 2021, they’ve also gotten some attention from Bandcamp Daily and various other rock magazines across the web. Everyone is rightly enchanted by the group’s sound, and I have to agree. I’m betting that their live shows are super fun, and I’ll definitely check them out if they ever stop by on tour. They’ve got a new album coming out tomorrow (June 15th, 2022) which I’m sure will be well received. But today we’re only talking about the title track.
And it’s…not that great. It’s not a bad song. The guitars are fun, the vocals are ambitious, and the song is a bop to be sure. But the whole thing sounds hollow and the song from is too overdone to save it.
The lyrics are all English and contain a little introduction of some of the band’s members, and talk about how they can go everywhere in this strange world, (they said the title of the thing!) and then they say it all again. Very cute, but typical of this kind of song. The guitars sound great, and the drums are good. The whole group has some rhythm issues that seem less like purposeful choice and more like they’re just messy. It works with the style, but it definitely isn’t helping the mix, which is where the problems really are.
I don’t know what went wrong during mixing, but it’s really bad for the majority of the song. It finally comes together at the end, but whenever the guitar riff cuts out the song loses all power. The chorus isn’t soo bad because the harmonies help give it some meat, but in general the song feels lonely. If the mix had some more weight I think it would hit much harder. As it is, it just makes me want to go see them perform live so I can hear how the song how is meant to sound. I really hope the rest of the album sounds better.
Stream or download the track
