Beach eighths

When the Ai suru Hito / 愛する人 single came out, I gave it a brief hearing but something approximating fear kept me from additional listening. Excepting possibly their indie releases, this is THYME's first stab at a ballad, and after covering a ton of non-ballad territory with every song on first 9uality, it almost feels like someone is checking off an obligatory list item.

No repertoire is complete without a ballad or two, right?

On top of that, I have what you might call an arbitrary ballad bias, where I will borderline ignore a well composed and executed ballad unless it's associated with some external entity, like reputation (artist) or show (OP/ED). There are just too many good ballads — nay, there is simply too much good music in general — such that a piece needs to be something quite extraordinary in itself to garner anything more than a sideways glance.

In this one respect, I finally pulled my head out of the sand and realized that Ai suru Hito was the credits track for the movie adaption of Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora. The PV is the prettiest of the four, although what movie footage is included pales in comparison to the anime, except the dolphin scene.

As far as ballads go, it is — get this — well composed and executed. But I think it worth pointing out the 6/8 meter, which is pretty infrequent as far as songs go, let alone ballads; so much so that I have a tendency to point out 3/4 family meters in songs on the off chance that I happen to run into them.

The triplet figures that appear first in the piano and then elsewhere are a key factor in maintaining a relaxed, walking pace; power not through measured movement, but in casual honesty. I was tempted to say "lounge" but obviously there is too much motion, even though there is a decidedly blue chord in the secound half of the chorus.

But what's this? For a fleeting moment there is nothing but thyme, a quiet time-keeping snare, and a piano with undecorated accompaniment: lounge tranquility.

The band comes back in, and off we go, but sometimes you treasure those moments of rest above all the rich textures and busy lines.

keep on my way is (probably) the band's darkest work to date, like a defiant and distorted version of my kitten. I like my linearity, so hard dissonance and tone fuzz is uncharted territory for me, but the short erhu interjection in the first verse (replaced with electric guitar in the second), and the levity of the piano part provide a bit of balance.