SUKISHA - Art of Dazzling Swirl

Recorded in the style of a live jazz record, “Art of Dazzling Swirl”, the latest album from multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter SUKISHA (Hiroyuki Ikezawa), is a dynamic burst of creativity that pushes him to newer heights and highlights his ability as a performer and band leader.

As we know well, Ikezawa is an extremely talented musician and songwriter, capable of writing great songs in his bedroom and probably in his sleep as well. Proud of being able to do it all himself, he has long been on his own path as an independent maverick, making music with ingenues, rappers, and other bands, as well as his own brand of keyboard-driven indie pop and lo-fi. But when you’re that capable and committed to independence, you don’t need to rely on input from others. And that might lead to stagnation in creativity, with some of the same sounds and ideas turning up again over time. Sometimes, you need to look outside for innovation and growth.

So for this project, Ikezawa issued himself a creative challenge of sorts. An album that would be recorded live in a single evening, no retakes, no editing. And just to add extra pressure, the whole album would be performed in front of a paying audience at Sangenjaya Grapefruit Moon. This way, the band would react to each other and the crowd, and they would live with the result, good or bad. Put carbon under enough pressure, and you might get a diamond.

Such a performance requires a skilled band, and Ikezawa’s crew consisted of the rising star Reiya Terakubo on trumpet, Hirofumi Ono and Kohei Shimizu (AKA sooogood!) on guitars, Yuya Yoshida on bass, and Takuto Yamachika on drums, each of them well-versed in rock and jazz.

The concept proves itself as soon as you hear the first few seconds of lead single “Sunshine”. The groove is effortless, the rhythm fluid, the sounds organic. There’s just a sense of scale and power present that you can’t get with a bedroom setup, the way the trumpet rings out through the space, the way the hi-hats shimmer and the snare rattles. Here, the arrangement lends itself to a different sound, one that is more urban and jazzy, closer to 70’s funk or psychedelia like brkfstblend or even S.A.R.

Creatively, the concept has encouraged Ikezawa to write songs that fit this setup and sound, moving away from pop to funk, neo-soul, and jazz. It feels like Ikezawa has seized this opportunity to flex his musicality, and it’s a treat for the listener. In particular, the bridges and pre-choruses feature some really cool and unexpected chord progressions, and he uses non-standard song structures so you don’t know what’s coming next. The band also gets to mess around more on riff-oriented tracks like “Monster” and “Night Hike”, making it feel like a jam session. You wonder if it was difficult for Ikezawa to cede control given that he could play the parts himself, but he has chosen musicians he can trust and he lets them go to work. It’s refreshing to hear other how players contribute to his music, especially on songs like “愛の形” or “夜行性” that start out sounding like normal SUKISHA songs and would usually feature his keyboard playing and beat samples but are transformed here into something more adventurous. For instance “愛の形” would probably have been lo-fi but the live drums and trumpet make it sound more mature, and “夜行性” might have been a novelty song but instead becomes frenetic acid funk.

Still, the star of the show is Ikezawa, and it’s most apparent from his singing. We’re used to hearing his voice sound so clean, and the melodies and harmonies are so familiar, but here it’s naturally more raw and heightened by the tension. With only a minimum of pre-recorded harmony, Ikezawa is exposed but we know he’s supremely confident. Typical SUKISHA melodies are quite complex as they run up and down registers, and hearing him hit all the notes live without sliding or slurring gives you a greater appreciation for his technical singing ability, which often gets overlooked among all the collabs.

Rather than being restrictive in its conditions, “Art of Dazzling Swirl” has given Ikezawa license to explore, and it not only sounds fun but also joyous as he jams with his friends. There’s great energy in the performance and the rough edges add to the charm. As he considers his next moves, the success of this concept should hopefully encourage him to push the boundaries of what SUKISHA can be. Once again, the sky's the limit.