Advantage Lucy

It might be disingenuous to spell it out Japan’s benefit Lucy without deploying the convenient descriptors frequently put on lighter indie pop fare: bubbly, gummy, jangly, Swedish. Worse is always to disregard obvious factors of guide. Lucy’s members often name-drop the Smiths, the Cardigans, Ivy; their appear evokes Rocketship, the Concretes, Camera Obscura; their heart if not really their visual recalls that of the people at Sarah and K Reports. But perhaps one of the most inexplicable reasons for having pop music is certainly how little from it in fact noises the same. For the genre extremely formulaic by description, pop carries a large numbers of normally derivative organizations with plenty of flair to tell apart them thoroughly from your pack. The unique, spacy taste of benefit Lucy’s substantial result locates the group securely with this category. Building on the noises and success from the Shibuya-Kei picture ignited by Flipper’s Acoustic guitar and Pizzicato Five, benefit Lucy dilute the sharper bite of the first-wave Japanese indie rings right into a confectionary mix much less wholly than especially their own. The storyplot of Lucy’s source ‘s almost as valuable as the group’s music. In the wintertime of 1995, Takayuki Fukumura (acoustic guitar) released a set of advertisements in the Tokyo-based zine Rockin’ On. Looking for a bassist and vocalist, he received reactions from two aspiring guitarists: Yoshiharu Ishizaka, who became the band’s second guitarist, and Aiko, who decided to sing. The trio performed its 1st gig as Lucy Vehicle Pelt in March of 1996. After viewing the display, Fukumura’s friend Kaname Banba enlisted to try out drums. This lineup documented a cassette for Clover Information and added a music to a compilation released on God’s Pop Information. God’s Pop consequently released Lucy Vehicle Pelt’s 1st LP, In Tranquility, in 1997 after Sakamoto experienced became a member of the group on bass. The next year noticed a copyright-induced name switch, a proceed to a significant label (Toshiba-EMI), the departure of Sakamoto, as well as the release from the refined Citrus EP. The group’s full-length major-label debut, Fanfare, fallen in-may 1999. Train station, a much less convincing LP, implemented in 2000. Founding member Fukumura amicably parted methods with Lucy soon after Fanfare, heading to develop the important Vasallo Crab 75. His loss of life from heart difficulty on November 26, 2001, at age 29 strike the associates of benefit Lucy hard. Losing inspired both group’s new materials and an annual tribute concert dubbed Mune-Kyun Arpeggio (a mention of Fukumura’s initial advertisements in Rockin’ On). Over the brighter aspect, 2001 noticed the fruition of Solaris Information, the unbiased label formed with the band back 1999. Solaris released a set of Lucy EPs in March and Apr of 2001: Oolt Cloud and Anzu No Kisetsu. A best-of compilation — entitled Possess a Good Trip and covering 1996 through 2000 — implemented on Toshiba in-may. Following the departure of Banba because of leg difficulty, Lucy scaled back again for some time. In past due 2004, the primary duo of Ishizaka and Aiko and helping musicians journeyed to South Korea because of their first performance overseas. They continued in 2005 release a both Hello Once again EP and Echo Recreation area, their most achieved album to time. Advantage Lucy stay active and well-known in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.