Music Review: Nobuo Ariga - Sherbet (1987)
Tracklist (google translated, minimally edited, hope you understand):
Rain-colored Me And You
Goodbye With Canned Juice
White House and Furin
If The Umbrella Comes One Centimeter Closer
Side Of The Wind/Horizontal
I Won’t Forget You
Gate With No Destination
Jingle Bells in Your Pocket
Half Tower
A light, sweet, icy treat? Yes, that’s it…
Looking for my listening queue for that day, recently I remembered this record, one I’m very fond of. After checking in on Mr. Ariga’s profile, it yielded the somber conclusion that he had passed away last February. It does give me the opportunity to share this one, which I have some history with at this point. It was a taste breakthrough record I had indulged in around the same time I was listening to Akiko Yano’s Tadaima, so Sherbet is a soft spot in kind.
SHERBET is a digital-analog synth-pop yarn that has orbiting it the dreaded, inadequate (to me), label CITY POP. But what is it? The effected, whispy vocals over its kind of production schemes, major one being it steeped fairly deep in reverb milk, occur to me as if a Christmas cloud was singing to you, interestingly, having a subjective summery effect. The Beach Boys aren’t far from your mind listening to Sherbet. Ariga as producer is very tasteful on this record. Fretless bass. Ice chimes.
So these things already carry another market term— NOSTALGIA. In fact, the first time I heard this, it was surprising what kind, in that regard, of memory fuzz it elicited throughout. When listening to records, this factor usually brings one back to the context you first heard it, or some other time you did, maybe in a social situation. SHERBET is that partially, with TADAIMA above. It is especially interesting though, when it brings to mind things it has/had nothing to do with, things in a vastly different set of conditions. That’s my case with SHERBET.
These conditions are rather personal, you see, so I won’t be going into detail. Briefly, it reminded me of a time when I was much younger, and it was in a specific, mysterious point where I was newly independent, and the moments that crested following this position carried a thread of syncopation with the world and the elements around me. A happy place. It helps that the album is really lovely too.
Nobuo Ariga only released three solo records. The rest of his career is largely confined to session musician, but he also composed film scores. His band for Sherbet also has a roster of legacy session players, some of them notably having toured with Tatsuro Yamashita’s band or playing with Sadistics.
Enjoy. RIP Ariga-san. Sorry I only found out of your passing now.
<Three Songs On It>
“Rain-colored Me and You”
A great single and intro to the album. The chorus is probably my favorite, chimes on the upswing finished with the strings are super solid. Funny thing: the video partner to this one is from youtube user “Enema 2”.
“Side Of The Wind/Horizontal”
Sprinkly guitar, fairy dust, into the propulsive thud of a great drum sound. Very pleasant vocals with some flourish, then the vocal wave shifts, which never fails to gooseskin me.
“I Won’t Forget You”
This is the most energetic track on the record. As full as the reverb is on this album, the piano and synths twisting around each other in this are pretty special. (track timestamped in the video)