Sodagreen's "夏/狂热" album is the second album that they have released this year. The continuation of their "Vivaldi Four Seasons" project, it comes just five months after the release of their previous album "春·日光". I loved "春·日光" for its folksy, light-hearted, cheerful feel, which to me, really epitomized the true spirit of Spring. But I got to say that I'm loving the second album even more!
"夏/狂热" as a whole, when compared to "春·日光", is an album that's very different in its overall presentation and feel. "夏/狂热" is definitely devoid of the easy-going charm of the previous album, that feeling of relaxed, light-heartedness is now replaced by slightly more melancholic, infinitely more rockish themes. The change in lyrical style is also very very telling: this album has lyrics that are darker, more emotional, more soulful - in fact, the lyrics are often very dark, bleak, pessimistic even. A total 180 degree reversal from the optimism and hopefulness found in the previous album.
"夏/狂热" is a Mandarin album that was recorded in London, because the band had a goal in mind to fashion this album into something that captured the essence of good old fashion British Rock. I think they have succeeded in achieving that: the tunes sound like stuff that could come out of many fantastic British bands, like Coldplay, Travis, Oasis, Franz Ferdinand, Keane etc. And I love British Rock, so this album is just a treat to my ears. The arrangements inspire me! Fantastic!
I particularly enjoyed tracks like "他夏了夏天" which to me, captured the very essence of Summer: energetic, bustling with life and activity but at the same time, there's a degree of laziness and dreariness attached to it. Its a song that has an infectious mid tempo tune, and its arrangement is something that I love alot.
"包围" has a very very long introduction, and surprise surprise, its actually the first song whose tune was composed by the Sodagreen as a band. It reminds me alot of 'Life In Technicolour' by Coldplay, not because it has a similar tune or anything, but the way the different instruments come in in progression: it creates an ascension of tunes that gives this song an extremely complex and layered feel to it. Fantastic!
"御花园" and "彼得与狼" are two songs that feel like they were meant to be brothers or something. They are typical rock tunes that just inspire you to be High and to go into a frenzy. Perfect for 'Live' concerts!
"无眠" has to be the SURPRISE of the album. This is a slow emtional tune composed by Drummer 小威 with lyrics by Lead Vocalist 青峰. This special thing about this song is that its lyrics are actually in Hokkien - which in my opinion is always a risky thing because it runs the risk of turning the song into something that's going to be extremely beng-ish. But this song turned out to be so so so so so beautiful, the emotion it evokes is just unbelievable. I love this song the most. Definitely a sleeper hit in the making.
"狂热" is the first single off the album. Its a full out rock song, and probably the best song to capture the 狂热 aspect of this album. I like the way this song makes me sway and bob my head with the tune. Very cathartic to sing along and just shake your stresses and worries away!
"近未来" - the last track of the album, and I think the longest. Its quite different from the other tracks in the sense that its more hesitant, even reserved and conservative in its attempt to bring across its message. This is a reflective piece, and would serve as a perfect song to highlight the transition from Summer to Autumn (just like how "融雪之前" from the previous album served as a prefect transition from Winter to Spring!). Nice to end with a song that feels different from the rest of the other tracks!
These are just some of the tracks that I enjoyed more. That doesn't mean that the other tracks weren't good; all the tracks here are solid. However, the other tracks don't stand out as much as these few that I particularly liked and enjoyed. All in all, this is a fantastic album, which is amazing because Sodagreen has always been so consistent in producing not just amazing singles, but amazing albums that should be listened as a single entity. That's the beauty of their music really - one has to listen to the album in its continuity to fully appreciate the true message that they are trying to bring across to the listener. If the first two albums of 'Project Vivaldi' are already so deliciously good, I can hardly wait for what surprises the next two albums would bring next year!
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