Here is a really interesting statement that I will ask you to consider: the world is filled with a tremendous amount of extraordinary music. This might appear to be quite obvious to most lovers of music that are able to rattle off a list of their favorite bands to prove their indie credibility, like a police officer reciting the Miranda rights to a drunk driver. But upon closer examination and further contemplation, one will eventually realize that so much of this amazing music will never be heard by one’s own ears. In essence, this is the kind of music that likes to hide in the cracks and crevices, never gaining any widespread attention outside of its small knit community. While occasionally an extreme example like Sigur Ros is able to rise from their one time relative obscurity and gain an insane amount of international attention, most remain unnoticed, overlooked, and disregarded. This is quite unfortunate. Luckily for yours and my sake, the birth of the internet is beginning to change music drastically; one now has the capability of discovering and tapping into new and exciting music from the farthest reaches of the globe.
This is the case that happened to me when I first found out about a great record label in Japan called Stiff Slack. The label initially began to reissue American indie release (Shiner, Mercury Program, National Skyline) in Japan at a very successful rate and has now started releasing some brilliant Japanese bands. Go Fish, is one of these bands and to say that Songs for a Leap Year is a unique gem of a record would be selling it short. Go Fish, is a solo project of Shota Terai, an extremely talented and diverse singer/songwriter with the ability to showcase many different styles of music in a highly melodic and interesting format.
At times Shota possesses the emotional depth, beauty and simplicity of a modern day Nick Drake, such is the case for track one (since all of the songs are titled in Japanese characters, I will simply refer to them by their respective track numbers). Singing all in Japanese, Shota plays gorgeous acoustic guitar while caressing the listener with a keen sense of vocal tranquility. The song is wonderfully melodic and is amazingly catchy; it just makes the listener want to sit there and smile for a long period of time. The rest of the songs follow a similar fashion and remain a relaxing and breathtaking journey into the mind of Shota. Track five is extremely unique as well and utilizes a super mellow samba rhythm with intricately developed acoustic guitar work — this song is truly one of a kind.
All in all, Songs for a Leap Year is one of those records that won’t receive a lot of press (especially in the U.S.) and will be hard to track down (one must mail order it from Japan). However, those that are on the search for a truly original record with a charming aura of simplistic beauty will certainly want to take note of this superb release and purchase it. While the shear amount of beautiful music that exists in the world is mind-boggling, one’s efforts are greatly rewarded with marvelous little gems like Songs for a Leap Year for exploring it.
* Tracklisting unavailable due to all songs in Japanese characters. 1. http://www.stiffslack.com/english/index.htm
2. file://localhost/home/u4/tinymixtapes2/html/musicreviews/musicreviews.htm
More about: Go Fish
