‘The End’ is the latest album by Jisatzu. The only information I have about the artist (unless I missed or misplaced the press release – oops!) is a low-fi picture of him in the studio, holding a guitar in front of a microphone, and I don’t mind the mystique at all. I am not saying it is deliberate, but I am old enough to remember when one had to form an opinion about an album and, consequently, the artist in general, just by listening to the music and trying to make out the lyrics. This is precisely what I am going to do!
If I am not mistaken, “Jisatzu” is Japanese for suicide (unless I just managed to provide another horrible translation from a white guy, in an Asian language). Still, it definitely would explain the general melancholy that permeates the album.
The album begins with moody, mellow electric guitars and understated vocals set against a restrained beat. It is a bit like Nirvana meets the lo-fi and shoegaze parts of the music spectrum, but without any grunge. Just imagine Nirvana at their most stoned, but in collaboration with, say, The XX.
Between that vibe and a more ballad-y sound, soft and Radiohead style, we can define the musical journeys that this album can take you on. ‘The end’ and ‘KILL myself’ are faster and uptempo, whereas ‘Memories’ and ‘I wanna go home’ are very introspective, slow and mild, with just the sounds of the guitar and the vocals carrying the song.
There is also a space in between, where one can find ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Metamorphosis’, which incorporate even some faint jazz elements in the music. Still, the best way I can describe it is this: have you seen the Spotify playlist called “lofi music for studying” or something similar, which features basically lo-fi, semi-jazzy songs that are mellow enough to be in the background? However, they are still quite enjoyable if you want to have a candlelit night and enjoy some soft music. Imagine that with lyrics and singing on top, and of course, without the ‘invisibility’ element of songs that are meant to be used as background music.
Due to the lack of more information about the artist, I checked out their discography, to find out that only singles from this album have been released so far, from 2024 to 2025, which tells me that this is a debut album, or at least the first one they decided to release, being a musician myself, I can never assume that an artist always shares with the world everything they’ve worked on, and sometimes there has been a lot of creativity put into music projects before one decides to release some music.
Overall, I liked this album; it was short and to the point. I am looking forward to their next release!
Written by Spiros Maus
