[English Translation]

Vivid Undress’s Unveil

The amazing quintet tossing around listeners with tricky ensembles and vocals that keep changing character are finally making their nationwide debut!

Text by Tetsuo Yamaguchi

One listen of their music, and one cannot help feel the talents that ooze out of the sounds, the potential that casts blinding lights and the uncontainable swell of excitement from their music. Powerful a statement that may be from the beginning, but that is the power of the charm of this five-members band, Vivid Undress, consisting of  Kiila (vocals), Yu-ya (guitar), Syunn (bass), Rio (keyboards) and Utsumieri (drums). Not long after the formation of the band in March of 2014, the fivesome was elected as the ‘monthly artist’ at the audition event by the talent scouting and development project ‘Mash A&R’, known for producing young bands currently under the spotlights in the latest rock scene such as The Oral Cigarettes or Frederic. Also in July the same year, their demo material caught eye of the buyer at the Shibuya store of Tower Records, allowing them to release a Shibuya store-exclusive limited CD, “Zero”. Though the product was released on a limited one-store-only basis, all copies pressed were sold out. Following that, the music video of one of the tracks on the CD, “Parareru Wa” has lately been uploaded to a video sharing site and made public for everyone to see. 

And now, Vivid Undress who was already popular among the quick-ear listeners has released their very first album “Unveil”, available for nationwide distribution.

As they proclaim themselves to be a ‘J-Pop Mutant Rock Quintet’, what strikes first when listening to this piece is the singing voice of kiila that changes character in every single song that may even get people under the illusion that the songs are actually sung by different singers. And as if acting in concert with that, the sounds and the lyrics written by kiila herself of all the 6 tracks are given sophisticated finishes, abundant in variety.

Vivid Undress Unveil Zombie Magazine(2015)

On one side there are emotional tracks such as “Kantan na Kotoba (meaning Simple Words)” that bursts with the feelings for by repeating words such as ‘  痛い itai (meaning painful)’ and ‘  居たい itai (meaning want to be-)’ along to the sprinting band ensemble, while on the other, there are pop numbers like “Ningen Nandamon (meaning Because I’m a Human)” that sings out a story based on the perspectives seen from a cat, adding in some call-and-response elements to the track. Also in the line-up are “Usotsuki (phonetically meaning Liar / Chinese characters meaning Fake moon) that physically hits on the listeners heart by inserting a funky groove in between the four-on-the-floor beats, or “Wonderland” that leaves an uplifting feeling as chaotic parts of freely roaming guitar or keyboards come popping up, and the way in which the album is given a consistently catchy touch on top of complicatedly structured arrangements is just what describes the moniker of the band.

Anyway, no matter how hard I try, it is simply not possible to describe the girls right now. Borrowing their line from the track “Kantan na Kotoba” mentioned above, “I can only find words too simple”, and in the end, we end up “being tossed around” like we started here. The words just come about so naturally, that Vivid Undress is going to make history starting here, -that’s the kind of the incredible newcomer they are.