GLIM SPANKY(グリムスパンキー) - Looking For The Magic Album Thoughts(J-rock)

Tracklist:

• 01 - 4 Dimensional Desert
• 02 - Love Is There
• 03 - Tv Show
• 04 - ハートが冷める前に
• 05 - The Flowers
• 06 - In The Air
• 07 - 愚か者たち
• 08 - Hello Sunshine
• 09 - All Of Us
• 10 - To The Music
• 11 - Looking For The Magic

  Glim Spanky's fourth album, Looking For The Magic comes after the band had a good last year releasing singles for movies and commercials. I'm not going to say a whole lot about the album. I've made another post about this band before where I raved about them. I silently always root for them when I check the Japanese music chart still. This album and Stand Alone barely just made the top of the charts at number ten which I was happy to see. Looking For The Magic is  slight departure from the band's signature sound. They decided to try something new in their style by using a more eighties power pop vibe in songs such as Hello Sunshine. Tracks like Tv show revisit their normal style that fans know them for but just performing eighties punk rock inspired music isn't going to sling them into mainstream success. Note the chart performance of some of their singles….. 愚か者たち is such a good hard slamming rock tune inside and out only to not make the top ten spot on the charts. We all know this as a fact. leading to the reason why many bands change their style. Sales aren't everything on the other hand... I know what you're thinking... Glim Spanky makes the musical style change seem like another part of their body of work. It's not an awkward change, just might not be a change that appeals to every rock fan listener. Other good qualities about the album is the growth in the band's ability to create music contain memorable choruses that flourish in vocal performance. All of Us and To the Music are some gems of Looking For The Magic that make the album worth of a listen. Plus these tracks have the qualities that I mentioned above.

  Gilm Spanky's lead singer has a voice like she has a really bad cold that has symptoms of a sore throat. Depending on what she sings, her voice gets soft and gentle. During powerhouse rock numbers, her vocals growl loudly as if she's raging against the world.

   Looking For The Magic isn't their best album. It's a breath of fresh air to see them try new things though. Nothing worse than a one trick pony.