Some thoughts on “Night cruising”, the second digital single from 1009-thank you-.
Release Date: December 24th 2021
Serial Number:
Format: Digital
Tracklist
1. Night cruising
Stream: Here
As we all know, nothing lasts forever in Idol and the scene is continually shifting and evolving. Some groups have really long runs, others much less so but when one project comes to an end I’m always interested to see where, if anywhere, the former participants end up landing. Whether that be another Idol group, something else music related, professional wrestling, art, the list and possibilities are practically endless. That’s another pretty cool thing about this space actually, now that I think about it.
Most will likely know of Yura from her time in both Guso Drop and BURST GIRL. She’s been around for a long time now in Idol terms and has in the past couple of years even started to do choreography for other groups too. With the dissolution of BURST GIRL in October of last year I kinda figured that’s the path she was going to end up going down as it just sort of made perfect sense. Well, turns out Yura isn’t quite done with being on stage herself as it happens.
1009-thank you- is a duo unit featuring Yura and soloist Kanamaru. The project doesn’t seem to have a super defined concept but they do state that “We are grateful to all the people for every encounter” in their Twitter bio so I guess you can draw your own conclusions from that, or perhaps by listening to their music like I will be today. “Night cruising” is actually their second digital release but I guess their first sort of slipped past me at the end of last year there. I’m making up for it now though and I was pretty keen to hear what Yura has been up to since BURST GIRL ended so this was a pretty easy one to decide to write about.
Much like the title and artwork might suggest, “Night cruising” is a pretty chilled out and feelgood sort of song with a very warm feel to it. This is achieved instrumentally with some nice acoustic guitar, a bright but steady drumbeat and a little bit of sparkle sprinkled on top for good measure. From there it’s left to Yura and Kanamaru’s vocals to drive the track and they certainly do just that, showcasing a wide range while still keeping that feeling of warmth going with the overall tone. I don’t think anyone would have come into this thinking that either of them couldn’t sing very well but hey, here’s a reminder for you if you’d forgotten. The way that they play off of each other felt very natural too and I think it really added to the already rather sincere and earnest nature of the song.
If “Night cruising” had been released by an of the bigger names in the Japanese Indie/Pop scene I feel like it would be getting a lot more buzz than it currently is. It really is that good and sure it’s all very conventional and a far cry from the sort of things that Guso Drop and BURST GIRL used to get up to but if you’re looking for something bright and positive to get you through the darker, colder months of the year then this should be just what the doctor ordered.
I’m not really sure what the plan is for 1009-thank you- going forward and perhaps that line in the group’s Twitter bio is as far as you or I should really dwell on that sort of thing. This is what Yura and Kanamaru are doing currently, we should be grateful for the encounter and appreciate the project and its music while it is with us. The future is never certain at the best of times so let’s just enjoy ourselves and live in the moment, I think that’s a pretty nice note to end things off on here.
