Stepping up their assault on the Japanese airwaves, the dental students of
Greeeen released
A Domo Ohisashiburidesu in 2008 to wide acclaim. Their mix of happy pop songs and mildly hip-hop infused R&B met with the expectations of their newfound fanbase well, with tracks like the frantic opener, "Sun Shine," mixing higher-speed spoken deliveries with airy, major-chord riffs. There's a strong sense of summer to the music here. The following track, "Mata Ne," gives the boys a chance to show off their singing side a little more fully, with essentially no rap infusion (though there's a bit of half-sung work in the bridges). The result isn't bad, and though it doesn't break any new ground stylistically, it makes a good show of the half-urban, half-pop aesthetic that takes over the J-pop charts every summer (and in the case of
Greeeen, for the rest of the year as well). Aside from a couple of slight forays into rock ("Hito") and enka ("Sayonara Kara Hajimeyou"), the album progresses in similar fashion, with light, airy, breezy pop with a hint of contemporary Japanese R&B thrown in to round out the rough spots.
Greeeen avoided a proper sophomore slump, and though they aren't quite the standard bearers for the genre as a whole, they're not a bad introduction to the realm of J-pop for a newcomer. [A CD/DVD version was also released.] ~ Adam Greenberg