The year hasn't yet ended but I'm pretty sure Albemuth will be my discovery of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewO0HYJmGRUIt's this song in particular, Red baptism, that convinced me. It's got all the markings of a Sheena Ringo song from the Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana era, like it just didn't make the cut and stood in wait for someone else to claim it. That's praise as high as I can give to a musical artist and I'm pretty sure I mean it.
It's more artPOP than artpop, it leans a tad more into appeal than expression, and that's hard to pull off. I'm happy to see something like that coming from vsingers, from whom you can at most demand competence, or in its absence, charm. There's more here.
Projects such as these are not the work of a few individuals, since they're corporate, and are therefore harder to take seriously as art for some. I'd normally agree, but there's been exceptions before and Albemuth can count themselves among them.
Some more songs (including solo songs):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMHAzx5SW-sHas the sophistication that most merely cute songs lack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6W_tBiJO_ENothing out of this world, but I must've been in the right mood the night I first heard it; It almost made me cry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk9XlDWrjjEYou guys never talk about this, but it's got a nice accompanying video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dWZUupPnZUA cover. Nothing special (it's an R Sound Design song after all LOL), but an anon nominated this one to best ASU song, and I'd agree it's good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci53K0Wbejohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9B3VzC1vbUOpening and closer for ADAM. Some anons agreed this album was trying a bit too hard to sound cool, but these songs are good. If I was you, however, I'd give eve a listen first, it's the best of the two.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lOiqiE4ZyS8O0qIIA8bpQjwAc7FRHvl7kIf you're curious, during KAMITSUBAKI FES '23, CIEL joined Albemuth to sing the opener to eve, Eden of Elegant.
Also, their name is yet another Philip K. Dick reference.
