exist†trace - Spiral Daisakusen

All female visual kei rockers exist†trace have shown the world that they know more than their fair share about rock music. Their latest release is something of a departure from their previous visual sound. Spiral Daisakusen is their 11th single and was released on May 14th.

The title track is a bit of kitsch pop. Surprisingly, the overriding flavour is that of disco. Singer Jyo has really camped things up in her over the top vocals, complete with lyrics such as "lazy crazy ladybug". Guitarist miko, who had an increasing role as vocalist in their previous album VIRGIN, has come to the fore again and shares almost 50% of the singing time. Her more feminine voice forms a nice duet with Jyo's rougher tones. The light and skippy drumming, heavy on the tambourine, teams with the very melodic bass line to make it a really dancey track. Omi gets her guitar solo, which is much more modest than usual but kicks a good bit of rock into the mix. It's different from what we would expect from the band, but its supreme catchiness can't be denied. All that's missing is a spinning mirror ball to complete the picture, although that's provided in a way by Jyo's sparkly lapel in the music video. The MV enhances the tongue-in-cheek nature of the song, especially as all the members, including the usually emotionless bassist NAOTO, appear to be having a jolly good time against a retro backdrop.

The B-sides are definitely rockier than Spiral Daisakusen. Antique Doll brings back the feisty visual rock with heavy guitar and some mean drumming from Mally, although gone is all of the growling and screaming of the old days. It's back to lighter rock in vintage sound with Yume ni Kiss wo, which has some hints of Simple Minds and old U2 in parts. It has another of their simple, memorable choruses.

To be frank, some exist†trace fans might hate the change in direction this single presents. It really couldn't be further from their older works on the music spectrum. However, the band didn’t churn out the same old thing at its peak, and the B-sides show they haven't abandoned rock altogether, just moved closer towards the glam rock end. However controversial Spiral Daisakusen may prove to be, it is still a very decent, upbeat track which gets stuck in the head and is difficult to forget.

The music video for Spiral Daisakusen, featuring Jyo doing her best impression of a mad '70s game show host, can be seen below.