“moumoon experiments with a different style of music with their fifth single ‘On the right’. Featuring a more mellow, happier upbeat pop track, the single also features a solid rock track and an all English track as well. Overall, a solid single from the duo.”
GROUP: moumoon
CD SINGLE: On the Right
LABEL: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVCD-31654/B
DURATION: 21:16
RELEASE DATE:Â July 22, 2009
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- On the right
- ãƒãƒ¬ãƒ«ãƒ¤
- Philia
- On the right ~instrumental
- ãƒãƒ¬ãƒ«ãƒ¤ – instrumental
DVD: Region 2, Duration: 10:20 minutes, 4:3
- On the right – MUSIC CLIP
- FULL MOON LIVE TOUR 2009 DIGEST
- FULL MOON LIVE TOUR 2009 Special Animation 01
- FULL MOON LIVE TOUR 2009 Special Animation 02
In 2004, singer/songwriter YUKA and musician/composer Kousuke Masaki were introduced by a mutual friend.   Eventually, the two appreciated each other’s music and in 2005, the two would form the rock unit, moumoon.
The group based their name from the French world “mou†and the English word “moon†which literally translates to “soft moonâ€. Two words that would describe the two individuals of the group.
YUKA who was born on Dec. 3, 1985 in Tokyo is a big fan of Michelle Branch and Des’ree. Although, known for her vocals, YUKA is actually an accomplished violinist and played for an orchestra. She learned English while living in America where she lived in Michigan and Illinois. Kousuke Masaki was born on June 22nd, 1977 in the Ishikawa Prefecture and is a big fan of The Neptunes and Alanis Morissette. Kousuke is an accomplished musician who grew up learning the piano and at the age of 13, learned to play guitar and at 15, started playing the synthesizer.
The group has managed to capture my attention with their Japanese and English releases and have felt that this band has a good presence to perform outside of Japan based on the releases and live work they have done thus far.
Their fifth CD single “On the right” is quite interesting because the band sports a different style of sound that moumoon is known for.
The single kicks off with “On the right”, a softly sung pop track that is a happy style of song that really doesn’t showcase the bands rock sound but if anything, shows that the band can utilize different styles. In a way, I find this quite interesting because moumoon kind of reminds me of the 90’s pop group My Little Lover who were known for their rock sound and then wanted to experiment with different style of sounds and it will be interesting to see if the group pursues that style of sound in the near future.
The second track “ãƒãƒ¬ãƒ«ãƒ¤” (or “Hallelujah”) is ain inspirational rock track that the band is known for. Featuring string arrangements by Gen ittetsu and I like how the song transitions to this earthly chorus. Pretty cool track!
The third track is an all English track titled Philia, written by YUKA. The song actually features solid English lyrics and showcases YUKA’s talent for songwriting. In this song, YUKA writes about a friend she met in 1985 named Philia who told her to stand up to the crazy world and how that voice and those words stayed with her since.
The remaining two tracks are instrumental tracks for the first two songs.
As for the DVD, the DVD features a music video for “On the right” which features YUKA walking through an artistic world featuirng CG clips of flowers, birds, paper airplanes, animals, buildings and more that sprout around while she moves around from area to area. The video is directed by Keita Takayanagi.
The second track features clips from moumoon’s 2009 FULL MOON tour with clips of her singing songs such as “Do you remember?” and “good night”.
The third and fourth clips are two special animation clips that were shown during the FULL MOON tour.
As for the CD insert, the insert features the lyrics and production credits to the song and music video. A picture of YUKA and Kousuke Masaki and a mini flier for BEE TV.
Overall, another entertaining CD single release from moumoon. “On the right” definitely showcases the group with a different style of music that fans may or may not be comfortable with but personally, I see the track as a way of showing that the group can take on different style of music which isn’t all that bad. For fans of moumoon, definitely get the CD+DVD version, as the DVD does showcase clips from the 2009 FULL MOON LIVE TOUR.
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