Single: Sugar - antlion

Antlion

Date released: 18.6.2008.

Track list
1. antlion
2. 麝香漂う中で (Jakou tadayou naka de)
3. 男娼と黒猫 (antlion version) (Danshou to kuroneko)

Sugar actually turned to this month's top music discovery to me. I was going through some of their singles to warm up for their first Unplugged style single (as they've stated).

With antlion Sugar definitely proves the unhindered versatility of Visual kei, being a Visual kei band whose style can be described as jazz-rock, even more jazzier than your average jazz-ska-punks Merry and Nagoya kei lords the studs. And the resemblance of the singer Loki's voice with those of Mako is pretty tight, though Loki's voice is a bit more vibrant.

antlion sounds like the kind of music you'd hear on a terrace of a hotel at the seaside on a summer night. The kind of slow-tempo, saxophone enriched (and you don't hear a sax everyday in Visual kei at least) balladesque songs where couples (mostly old folks) go dancing slowly, close to one another. Interestingly the song goes a bit upbeat at the middle delivering a nice bass and drum solo, giving even more an impression of a jazz combo playing. And have I mentioned how floating and light Loki's voice sounds?

Jakou tadayou naka de goes a bit faster, still glimmering with the unmistakable jazzy groove and feel, making you wanna close your eyes on the passages and start dreaming. Glamorous, profound, feather-light and stylish, yes that is how you could describe this, a bit faster than antlion, ballad with this retro sound provided by the electric organ and the saxophone (which dominates this single).

I was really happy to see Danshou to Kuroneko (Manwhore and the black cat) on this single because it's my favorite Sugar song right after Blossom. And the antlion version really brings the greatness of the original in a new form. The intro opens with a slow, emotional and gentle saxophone and piano company and then goes with a tango-like melody and beat giving the song an extra rock-rebel-flair to it. LOKI's voice simply floats over the whole song, exploding together in a great chorus (sounding even more vibrant than the original thanks to the extra punch from the saxophone). The guitar solo after always blows me away with it's ingenious, minimalistic, pizzicatto like play interchanging with the saxophone and later with Loki's whispering, you just have to love it.

antlion is a excellent single, can't deny that, though it's a kind of a single music elitists would listen, even your folks would listen and not complain about it (if you have music elitist parents like I do =) ). The mature, serious and overall well composed songs really sting out of the most of the Visual kei releases, showing that Visual kei knows no borders nor dogmas, allowing almost all sound ranges as long as it can be classified as some kind of rock. That is one of the reasons I love Visual kei, it can never get boring and each band is unique.

As for Sugar, their music will suit even the most elitist tastes, though don't expect some heavy and crazy riffage, explosive choruses and agression in antlion. The almost puristic jazz-rock style may seem boring to the listener oriented more on the wild side of Visual kei. Nevertheless if you like jazz, good compositions, variety in sounds and a more unplugged and Nagoya kei approach, you might not resist the charms and style this band has. A warm recommendation.