Some thoughts on “Heavenlyheaven”, the latest single from Zenbu Kimi no Sei da.
Release Date: October 6th 2021
Serial Number: CMI-114
Format: CD
Tracklist
1. Heavenlyheaven
2. live生live
3. Heavenlyheaven (Instrumental)
4. live生live (Instrumental)
Buy: HMV (JP), Tower Records (JP), Disk Union (JP), Amazon (JP), CDJapan (EN)
Stream: Here
I think after a certain point I’m kinda running out of things to really say about codomomental groups to start off these articles. It’s not for any negative reason or something like that, they’re just going about their business and doing their best to keep the ball rolling through what has been a very trying 18 month period. I don’t always agree with what they do, or perhaps wish they’d focus more on certain groups over other ones but hey that’s life and I’m just along for the ride like everyone else here at the end of the day.
Zenbu Kimi no Sei da have had several rough patches over the course of their at this point quite long run as a group. I think right now they’re in that nice spot where they’ve just come out of the other side of more line-up turbulence and focusing on what they probably wish they could always be worrying about, putting out new music and performing as many shows as pandemic restrictions will allow. I’m sure another, potentially world ending, crisis isn’t too far off but for now things seem to be going pretty well for the group.
“Heavenlyheaven” is their latest single and I don’t pay super close attention to Zenkimi these days so when I was doing a bit of research into this one and what have you I was struck by how almost unrecognizable the group was from my heyday as a fan. Everything changes of course but the music is generally pretty enjoyable and that’s pretty much what I’m expecting that the case is going to be with this new release as well. It might not be my Zenkimi anymore but I’ll always have a soft spot for them and make plenty of time to check out anything new that they might put out when the time comes, like right now.
I’m not entirely sure “fun” is the most appropriate word to use to describe this single if we’re looking at lyrical content, tone and what have you but that is the overriding feeling that I came away with after a couple of listens so make of that what you will I suppose! Both the title track and b-side “live生live” have some really catchy guitar riffs and drumbeats which I guess form the backbone of both tracks in a lot of ways. There’s a little bit of synthesizer in there too but I wouldn’t say it’s a big feature on either song, which while not uncommon for Zenkimi these days is still something that I thought was noteworthy. They really do lean quite heavily on the guitars and drums here.
Vocally it’s quite the mixed bag, but not in a bad way like how that term might usually be used. Whispering, overly cute auto-tune, screaming, clean melodies, it’s all on the table and open to being used and abused over the course of these two tracks. It’s actually quite impressive that they manage to do so much in such a short amount of time and have it all make sense but I guess that’s years of experience coming into play there. The choruses hit pretty hard too, especially on the b-side so listeners are sure to be humming along to it in no time at all. Lots of the usual Zenkimi stuff going on so it’ll be sure to please their existing fans and maybe garner a few new ones as well if they’re lucky.
This is up there as one of my favorite Zenkimi releases in recent years and yeah it just all sounds really and energetic which is never something I’m going to complain about when it comes to this Idol stuff. Don’t come in expecting anything super groundbreaking or straying too far out of the group’s comfort zone and you’re probably going to have a pretty enjoyable listening experience here like I did. It’s Zenkimi at the end of the day, you kinda know what to expect at this point I think.
The group’s newest album is probably just about out by the time you guys are reading this so I’ll be checking that out as well here fairly soon I hope. Like I said at the start, Zenkimi are knuckling down and getting on with things as best the can and they’re getting the results that their efforts deserve as far as I’m concerned. They’re pretty much an institution at this point and you don’t exactly get there by sheer dumb luck, do you?
