MIYAVI is not a man known for standing still musically. Throughout the 14 years of his solo career, he’s rarely stuck to any one style for more than a couple years. The current phase, sleek production-heavy dance-rock, began in 2013 with MIYAVI, the Samurai Guitarist’s first album to credit another composer, British producer Dan Priddy, on all songs. This trend carried over to last year’s The Others, much of which was co-written by Drew & Shannon, and now also Afraid To Be Cool / Raise Me Up, a digital single upon which MIYAVI shares credit with more collaborators than ever before.
Anyone who attended a show during MIYAVI’s WE ARE THE OTHERS world tour will know the pride of place given to electro-rock anthem Horizon on the setlist. The Samurai Guitarist hasn’t recorded anything quite as catchy. Until now, anyway. Co-written by American producer Lenny Skolnik and Ilan “iKid” Kidron of Aussie dance trio The Potbelleez, almost everything about Afraid To Be Cool feels precision-built to get the tune stuck in your head. Expect to hear sold-out music venues the world over singing “Woo-oh-oh-oh” on MIYAVI’s behalf on any forthcoming tour.
For Raise Me Up, MIYAVI and his crew try a different tact. There’s a saying about popular songwriting ascribed to Berry Gordy that goes “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!” Well, MIYAVI went one better here, omitting to include any verses at all. Instead, daring to push his vocals into the background, he serves up a slice of almost pure “guitar-tronica”, ably assisted in the endeavor by Seann Bowe of Milwaukeean electro-popsters The Royal among others.
Seeing as he’s been focusing his energies on dance-rock for three years now – the average span of every phase of his career so far – could MIYAVI be approaching the end of another chapter in his musical odyssey? At present, he seems to treading a path similar to one Hotei Tomoyasu walked twenty years ago, blending his idiosyncratic guitar style with ever heavier doses of electronics. While it has to be said tunes like Afraid To Be Cool prove the Samurai Guitarist is a dab hand at this particular subgenre, many fans are sure to be hoping he’s not through experimenting just yet.
Afraid To Be Cool / Raise Me Up is available for purchase here.
