kannivalism -she said under the helios-

Within Nakano Sun Plaza a rather subdued mood hung in the air. As the fans poured into the auditorium, they were greeted by soothing ambient tones as a mixture of crackling instrumentals and soaring violins that at the same time roused and yet lulled the mind into a dreamlike state. As the lights went down adore flowed seamlessly from this background lull, crafting more of a hazy, unreal world with its trance-like chorus and slightly tribal vocals.

The haziness was swept away as the stage was illuminated by glowing lights hanging in the air like stars, and a flickering candle appeared on the screen at back as the tone changed for vocalist ryo to sing the short piano accompanied love. His vocals, rich and earnest, reached the hearts of the audience who watched the performance attentively. As love. closed on a sweet note and became the slow organ of helios, the drums broke into the calm as ryo announced helios. The sweeping dreamy feel of the music felt in parts indie but with a spacey feel of post-rock. The bass line remained a strong pulse throughout as ryo's vocals lilted softly the sweet lyrics. Both music and performance were wonderful, the members delighting in the sounds rather than any attempts to rev up the crowd. While the next few songs would return to some of the normal visual kei, it seemed forced compared to the beautiful musical aesthetics of the more experimental works.

The first of these more straightforward songs came from helios, in fact. The drums picked up becoming more urgent and a few fans, lulled by the previous music, began to dance a little. In fitting with the concept of helios, the strong ambient themes, and a distinct indie feel, particularly from kei's guitar, ran through the song but it had enough of the familiar notes to make it visual kei nonetheless. It paired well with the following, a couple of older songs: hoshi no yoru and domino party. hoshi no yoru drew a few sighs from a pleased audience as it was announced by some sharp bass notes from yuchi. The poppy sounds got the fans active and moving about excitedly, so much that under the dappled lights they appeared like a violent sea. domino party meanwhile showed off kannivalism's art punk side with some interesting wailing vocals from ryo and some thumping drums.

While it made an interesting change, for the fans at least, kannivalism gave a show of true beauty in a seamless performance of three songs from helios, creating one opus of dreamlike shoegaze. Sweeping distorted sounds overflowed from the lull between i.d. and another world, becoming the gentle guitar notes and whispers over which ryo's vocals soared: "I love you always, you are the one." The visuals were as gorgeous as the music, a surrealist artwork that grew with the ethereal sounds. Into this soundscape were the drums, post-rockish with kei's guitar varying between strong solos and gentle plucking. It was so very richly textured, as numerous divergent elements came together in a rather astonishing piece. Into this dreamy world came a sudden stop and the beat of a heart pounding into silence before the sweeping guitar notes signalled a growth ring scroll, the short coda to again and again. The members were silhouettes on stage, with the white lights shining towards the audience lending an unnerving edge to the already disorientating space-like music.

As a growth ring scroll came to an end the audience were silent for a moment, absorbing the whole of the performance. Into this silence ryo sat down on his podium and the screen flickered to life with a sweet video of a tree for the stunning shiawase no ehon. To kei's accompaniment on piano, he sang the lullaby melody sweetly as this lonely melancholic piece brought the stunning ambient world of kannivalism to a close.

The MC marked a change in atmosphere. ryo spoke a little about the new album as he announced the next, balance, a song from the rockier side of helios. As yuchi played a rather 70s style bass line the audience began clapping. Paired with kei's light guitar, it made a fun song that got everyone dancing again. The live took on a completely different character, playful rather than introspective. Glory and You picked up the pace even more with its rockier attitude and some fast paced drumming. It led neatly into a more indie reworking of an older kannivalism song, monochrome. The melody skipped over the solid rhythm while the audience tried to keep up with their clapping. The video screen shot to life too; coloured spots danced over a black and white video of the members on stage, lending a retro feel to the visuals. Finally, ryo announced the last song, life is. from helios. The towels began a-whirling and a the hall was filled with tremulous guitar lines and pitch changes that felt a tad nostalgic. The members were running all over the stage encouraging the audience to sing along to the line, "life is melody" and bringing the main set to a close on a delightfully optimistic note.

The stage was left in darkness except for the two screens, glowing green in the darkness, on which were the words, "Can you breathe?"

The audience chants for encore became screams as the members reemerged. "I can hear everyone's voices. Let your voices out a little more!" ryo said before politely asking the audience if he could speak a little longer. "Sorry for making you worried about us," he said. After the other three members were introduced to the audience, he shouted, "Let's go everyone!", beginning the encore with a lively number that had a vague hip-hop feel and couldn't have been more different from the main set. The bass line continued reverberating, making a neat link into the next song, ritori. The audience began punching the air and chanting in time with the drumbeat as slightly mellower indie sounds filled the hall. The atmosphere changed again as ryo introduced age. with a shout of "OK let's go!" The drums became more aggressive with a punchier melody and vocals that verged on a rap. Through flashing lights the audience could be seen dancing about, enjoying this burst of energy that finished with the next, kimi music, and a sense of pop-punkishness that brought the first encore to a fun close.

The stage was left dark and as calm as before with the glowing screens now reading "She said under the helios." When the band emerged it was to the rather ominous sounds of bells, an old crackling record and a child crying that became a voice asking, "Mum, where are you?" The music was beautifully soothing with an innocent, optimistic sound with vocals that were rather anthemic and uplifting. Through the soft break as ryo's voice floated over an innocent xylophone sound, red petals began falling down from the rafters, tracing a gentle descent and covering the stage in a lovely carpet of red.

"The next song is really our last," ryo told the fans. "Really, truly, thank you for today. Once more we want to play you this song from helios, called love." As he announced the song, the nostalgic piano notes of this sweet ballad rang out accompanied by a slideshow of friends and family, laughing and having fun. It was a gorgeous end to a rather magical concert. Ending as it began, a host of starry lights hung over the stage and on screen a flickering candle as the song reached its climax with on a beautiful note. It was tinged with innocence and melancholic wistfulness until the final moment as the candle suddenly went out and the stage was plunged into darkness bringing the curtain down.

she said under the helios was a remarkable concert with a maturity not often seen in this genre of music and one that will surely remain in the memories of its fans for a long time to come.

Set list:

01. adore
02. love.
03. helios
04. in fact
05. hoshi no yoru
06. domino party
07. i.d
08. another world
09. again and again
10. a growth ring scroll
11. shiawase no ehon
MC
12. balance
13. Glory & you
14. monochrome
15. life is.

En1:

16. sekirara
17. ritori
18. age.
19. kimi music

En2:

20. mum.
21. love