I honestly thought that the arrival today of kurayamisaka yori ai wo komete, the debut full-length from Tokyo’s Kurayamisaka, would have come with a little more fanfare, with their 2022 debut EP kimi wo omotte iru being immediately hailed as a classic of the J-gaze genre and starting the buzz that’s been steadily growing for the past three years. But aside from one barely-animated lyric video for the title track – which translates to “From Kurayamisaka with love”, if you were wondering – there’s not been much in the way of teaser material.

But the record is here, and first impressions? Any concerns they might have tilted a little to the tamer side based on their preview singles should be allayed by the laser beams of feedback that herald the aforementioned title track and album opener. It, and the album as a whole, manages to capture the explosive guitar windmilling of their live shows (or at least from what I’ve seen from online footage). Those advance singles do offer important pacing and dynamics within the context of the record, but the whole album barrels through 46 minutes of glorious, crashing, joyously melodic chaos. Can definitely endorse.

At least there’s a new feature interview with guitarist Shimizu Shotaro at OTOTOY that has lots of great stuff about the band and the record, but to stay on topic, here’s his thoughts on the opening track:

Now, let’s talk about the songs on the album. First, the first track, “kurayamisaka yori ai wo komete.” It’s the title track, and it’s a fitting opening song that builds up anticipation for the album.

Shimizu: When I finished it, I thought, “I have no choice but to make this song the axis,” and it solidified the image of the entire album. It has a taste that I’ve never had before, yet it’s impactful, and the lyrics also symbolize the entire album. As for the title, I’ve always liked the phrase “With love from XX,” and I’ve always wanted to use it.

What is written in the lyrics?

Shimizu: Life goes on even as we ponder what it means to live and what it means to die. The work poses a vague proposition about what it means to “use up your life until it’s burned out and then go to sleep.”

清水正太郎（kurayamisaka）、「バズよりも、魂を吹っ飛ばす衝撃を」──初のアルバムで描く、“生きて命燃え尽きるまで”の群像劇 @ OTOYTOY

And I’ve also happened across Shimizu’s Note account, where he’s posted an album release article that covers a lot of background on the new album, and track-by-track thoughts on each song. Again, staying on topic, he says:

Once again, Shimada Tomoaki was the recording engineer for the entire album, and the ripping sound of this song was the result of Tomoaki saying, “Let’s make a sound that’s never been heard before,” so he plugged his guitar directly into the console, distorted it, and tinkered around in various ways. I think of him as Kurayamisaka’s sixth member.

The recording itself was finished around January 2024, at the same time as Highway, so it was completed before “Jitensha.” I couldn’t wait for everyone to hear it, but I decided to keep it safe until the album’s release.

The lyrics are the theme and declaration of determination for this album, but they also have a bit of megalomania mixed in, that’s the image I get.

kurayamisaka yori ai wo komete 全曲解説 @ Note

Last time I dug into guitarist Ryuji Fukuda’s Note account for insights into his kimi wo omotte iru gear, so clearly I gotta spend more time snooping around on Note. And also learning Japanese.

And yeah, okay, maybe there was a little fanfare around the release. But there should be so so so much more.