“In her cloth, I found my place” is SEASICK’s latest effort, a prelude to their similarly titled debut mini-album to be released soon. The Osaka-based rock quintet have outdone themselves yet again with this latest release. Everything that puts the band on the “up-and-coming watchlist” is here plus some more.

“In her cloth, I found my place” begins with a fluttery guitar riff as it builds up along with lead singer H.M.S.K.’s brief falsetto vocals. The song’s first verse is calm and reserved; much like a friend reminisceing while seeking comfort, a pondering guitar fills in the blank space. With the track’s bridge, the tune slows down a bit — “I guess you were always watching me, I know it” — a realization.

The song’s chorus breaks into supressed emotional beauty. It seems the vocalist wants to unleash a river of emotions but contains himself. “…and I screamed for you love” is the main line. But there is no screaming.

It’s frustration at its finest.

Here is where everything comes together musically as well. H.M.S.K.’s smooth vocals, guitarists TAR and ISAM’s vibrant guitars, bassist J connecting the two while a consistent rhythm is supplied by drummer KAMMY.

Lead singer H.M.S.K describes one of the many meanings behind “In her cloth, I found my place”:

This is the story of the man who hopes to keep good memories.

He goes on to explain that the song deals specifically with a man looking out the window in the back seat of a car. As he watches the passing scenery he tries to go someplace different — to his memories — before they die and are gone.

“In her cloth, I found my place” is beautiful and portrays its meaning so very well. Its somber reminiscence and desperate, bottled up frustration that’s almost let go is compelling. SEASICK’s ability to show this is remarkable.

Well, the part which I like in this song is most of the lyrics are made in Japanese.

H.M.S.K. enjoys this aspect hoping that both Japanese and foreign listeners can listen to “In her cloth, I found my place” more naturally.

SEASICK was generous enough to give SparkPlugged an exclusive copy of their song “In her cloth, I found my place”. Enjoy!
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• SEASICK’s official website (JP)
• SEASICK on MySpace
• Official blog (JP)

Japanese singer Yamamoto Ryohei has come a long was since his debut with m-flo and his first solo album in 2004. He’s endured a change in record companies (Warner to Rhythm Zone) and a stage name change (Yamamoto Ryohei shortened to simply Ryohei with his move to Rhythm Zone).

Having just released his LP titled ReListen in February of 2007, the smooth-voiced singer is back with new material. Released in summer ’07, Ryohei’s latest work, Cavaca means and is described as “Catch the Various Catchy compiled by Ryohei”. Confusing? I thought so.

Cavaca is essentially a compilation of cover songs and collaborations by Ryohei. Teaming up with such artists as Clazziquai Project and Kentaro Takizawa, Ryohei performs a diverse array of songs including “You Gotta Be” (Des’ree), “Sweet Soul Revue” (Pizzicato Five), “Lately” (Stevie Wonder), “Human Nature” (Michael Jackson), “Georgy Porgy” (Toto), and “She Will Be Loved” (Maroon 5).

The performances of each song are rather refreshing. The backing tracks mostly stay uniformed with a pop/R&B/electronic vibe (much like Ryohei’s ReListen album) and Ryohei’s vocals remain trademarkedly smooth and well, beautiful. It’s a good effort indeed

While you may not like some of the original songs featured, Ryohei may just convince you otherwise. Cavaca is 8 tracks of covered, remixed goodness.

“You Gotta Be” (remember this song and its 90s-ness?):
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• Buy Cavaca — it’s cheap
• Official site (with album info and audio samples)
• Video of Ryohei talking about Cavaca