Lucky Kilimanjaro - Kimochy Season

Reflecting on the various social and personal changes in the past few years, Lucky Kilimanjaro’s 4th album Kimochy Season adds a beautiful emotional dimension to their trademark dance music through the cycle of seasons, compelling you not just to dance, but more importantly, to feel.  

It’s been a while since Lucky Kilimanjaro’s first major debut album !magination, and though their mission remains to make every day dance, Kimochy Season comes after the pandemic and arguably carries more emotional weight than their previous works. The album is structured thematically around the four seasons, starting with winter and ending in autumn. There’s something about Japanese people and the seasons. Although other countries might also have distinct seasons, Japanese people are particularly sensitive to the changes between them, and there’s this concept in Japanese culture called mono no aware, the impermanence of things. That’s why they see beauty in the little things, because they’re aware that they will soon disappear, and any time they talk about seasons there’s often a feeling of melancholy, that even if it is wonderful, this too shall pass.

Kimochy Season leads off with “一筋差す”, possibly their most uptempo song in their discography, and it’s a shortening of the phrase “一筋の光明が差す”, where hope is born from a ray of light. It reminds you that even in the loneliness of winter, you might have forgotten to dance, and that we need dance music to help us overcome sadness and emptiness. If you hate the cold and bitterness of winter like me, the best thing is to get moving, fast. It’s followed by “Kimochy”, which doubles down on dance music as therapy, exclaiming how good it feels. Having too much fun is no crime, so you might as well dance and feel great. By this point it's pretty obvious that primary songwriter and band leader Yukimaru Kumaki loves dance music, he references Daft Punk’s line One More Time over a musical phrase of Earth Wind and Fire’s September (even including the “Yow”). It’s one of many standout tracks on the album, with interesting dynamics (rare for typical dance music), a great chorus line to sing along to “Ooooooh, yes!”, and even a change-up in tempo as the drop towards the end of the song. As someone who personally listens to a lot of dance music, it's really refreshing.

Another thing that the band has nailed is the pacing of the album. Like a good DJ set, it starts off controlled then steadily builds and drops until it reaches a peak, then closes with a gentle comedown - choosing to begin with winter and end in autumn is the most optimal for this. After overcoming winter, they get to spring cleaning on “掃除の機運”. Despite its super upbeat feeling, it's actually a way of getting over a parting. The intro translates loosely as “In this room without you, I’m left here without being able to say goodbye, you’ve gone somewhere I don’t know, to someone I don’t know”. Spring in Japan is a time for meetings and farewells as people graduate, change schools and jobs. But instead of crying about it, Lucky Kilimanjaro rolls up its sleeves and gets to cleaning up, wiping the slate clean. “またね” is also a song about goodbyes, literally it's “see you again”, and they are determined not to get too hung up about a broken heart, falling back of course on dance music to get them through. This time, they employ a bubbly TB-303 synthbass line, riding the trend of current funk-infused pop.

Another standout track on the album naturally comes in the summer section. “千鳥足でゆけ” means to stagger like a drunkard, literally it’s the way plovers (千鳥) walk. Kumaki lyrically references “350 Galaxy” from their first album !magination, and it's a spiritual cousin of that song, this time being drunk on dance (while being drunk of course). Cleverly, they repeat the homonym 良い/酔い, both the words “good” and “drunk” can sound the same in Japanese. It’s backed by festival drums and traditional Japanese style singing, heightening that feeling of a hot summer night. The overlapping vocals also mimic the effect of being intoxicated, and the sensual female vocal perfectly represents the old beer goggles.

But summer always comes to an end, and that melancholy comes to the fore on “Fuzzy Summer”. Changes are inevitable, we are always experiencing new and unknown feelings, changing in complex ways even in this instant. Summer is followed by an emptiness, a yawning gap to be filled by something else. We don’t know where we’re heading in life, we just have to keep moving. The following track “地獄の踊り場” serves as a bit of a comedown, the valley to the peak, but Lucky Kilimanjaro still sees those dark times as important for balance, that there’s also a place there to dance and do something. The pandemic really showed us how difficult life can be, we used to be so carefree in the clubs and festivals of the world, then it all got taken away from us. Lucky Kilimanjaro emerged from that with a greater awareness of those lows, so their music has become more nuanced, it's not always upbeat and happy. The album closes with “やみ明かし”, bringing light into darkness, and it’s on point for the times, saying it’s alright to reach out your hand and ask for help, that by showing weakness we can understand one another.

Dance music might only be a repeated arrangement of kick drums and bass lines, but in the hands of Lucky Kilimanjaro, there’s so much more to it. Kimochy Season is a wonderful celebration of life and dance music, expressed through multiple styles from house to breakbeat, various moods, clever lyrics, and interesting concepts. Most importantly, it is the embodiment of the title, in other words, it feels good. Or as the band sings, めちゃ気持ちいい. Extremely good.

Tokyo ON also recommends: Lucky Kilimanjaro - !magination, Maika Loubte - Lucid Dreaming