New from these guys, and we’re still pleased…
[Video][Website]
[7.64]
Iain Mew: Here go Sakanaction, making guitar music sound effortless and exciting again. The wind tunnel filter chorus is the closest to feeling templated, but it’s forceful enough to overcome it, and their fluid dynamic shifts mean it doesn’t have to take too much of the weight. When they disrupt the flow it’s carefully and with purpose — the guitar solo is a burst of energy, and the symmetry of the ceremonial crashing chords in intro and outro is satisfyingly elegant.
[8]
Alfred Soto: The juxtaposition of the piano line against those chiming guitars hold their own until a guitar solo that mimics the vocal line, only faster — one of my favorite tricks. And what a climax. Try this, Deerhunter.
[8]
Thomas Inskeep: Kinda Britpoppy, but on the more energetic end of the spectrum, like if Supergrass hadn’t lost their early spark. And the chorus soars.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: The minute this song’s intro bombast began, I had to take a minute to ensure that it wasn’t just my cold medicine giving me some sensory disarray, with all those smeared and hazy synths before giving way to a Postcard Records style galloping intro. Given Sakanaction’s love of plying the danceable to the rocking, you can imagine Edwyn Collins wouldn’t mind being told about this bunch either. Neither would he mind all these dreamy and wistful instrumental passages that give the tune a bit more than just some rush and a push type vigor. Certainly a bit overlong for a purest pop fix, but when the song runs you out of breath, the parts you catch onto and hold for dear life gain so much more value for all the support they give you.
[8]
Jonathan Bogart: How long until we can start saying that 00s indie-mainstream rockers were proto-Sakanaction, instead of the inverse?
[7]
Sonia Yang: Despite the song title (“new treasure island”), this isn’t breaking any new ground for them. It’s the same old Sakanaction, and I mean this in a good way. This year has been focused more on establishing their presence in mainstream Japanese music scenes and less (if at all) on expanding their musical horizons. This is the most triumphant I’ve heard from them in a while, and continues their trademark of starting modestly and climaxing in a splash of color. If the lyrics hint at anything, there’s new scenery to be explored in the future and I am excited to join them on that journey.
[8]
Edward Okulicz: Just on the strength of their singles, Sakanaction don’t seem to be particularly versatile, but they don’t need to be. “Shin Takarajima” is yet another uplifting, kinetic and melodically strong guitar pop track of the type they seem to do so well. They’re far too good to only be loved by Japanese kids and Singles Jukebox writers. When was the last time, say, Phoenix, did something this good?
[8]
Patrick St. Michel: As they continue rising up the J-Pop ranks, Sakanaction have basically found a formula that works for them, which is on full display on “Shin Takarajima.” It’s a rock number with touches of dance music weaved in (sorta like The Whitest Boy Alive) to the verses, which builds up to a big release of a chorus, the sort of hook that can get a field jumping at a music festival or just make one’s work commute bearable. “Shin Takarajima” adds a great guitar solo to the mix along with a few touches referencing pre-90s Japanese rock (or maybe the video is tricking me), but overall it’s the same zone Sakanaction have used to really take off in Japan. And they do it really, really well.
[7]
Brad Shoup: A backbone melody line like a nightly newscast, and a refrain like the Dismemberment Plan. The former is where the bread’s buttered: a gaseous synth bass puffs out a countermelody, then the guitar straps it on for a solo workout. Four minutes of impeccable pop/rock choices, chased with an ambiguously triumphant close. I don’t think I need to listen to another Phoenix song again.
[9]
Will Adams: The chorus treads the same euphoric ground that Sakanaction have trod consistently well, but the verses offer something even more exciting. The peppered guitar chords and quick vocal leaps recall The Police, while that plucky melody weaves its way through the song like a grasshopper. For a band that can afford to stay within their comfort zone, “Shin Takarajima” sounds remarkably fresh.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Sakanaction has left me colder than most here, and I was about ready to piss off when the intro primed me for Susanne Sundfør doing Throwing Muses’ “Mercury” and delivered Laura Barrett doing The Police. I’m glad I didn’t, though Sakanaction still seem either afraid or incapable of writing a chorus melody that takes off, though the bass in verse two should have been in verse one and something new in its place, and though there is a momentum-suck in the middle of this shaped like a guitar solo. But sweeping, elegant rock choruses will get me every time.
[7]