The opening to “Enoshima”, a collaborative production by the artists LEEVAI and Yasu Cub, transports the listener into a Japanese train station. It’s almost as if the song is greeting you with a warm welcome of nostalgic familiarity for those familiar with the sounds of a busy metro with arriving and departing announcements. Yasu Cub is a Tokyo-based band, so it is nice to hear slice-of-life elements specific to Japan being incorporated into their new single. In a sense, it also invokes the lo-fi aesthetics of building a song around a backdrop that eases you into the rest of the dream gaze song.
The first instrument you’re greeted sonically by is an acoustic guitar that builds up a melody that is quickly followed by a catchy electronic riff similar to early Beach Fossils and upbeat drums, almost reminding me of the start of “There She Goes” by “The La’s”. The intro builds up the world of this song instrumentally for almost a minute before we hear the singer’s soothing vocal melody begin. The verse’s dreamy layered vocals reverberate echoes that feel like thoughts in your head of memories being replayed as you make your way through the station you found yourself in at the beginning of the song. The chorus blends seamlessly from the first verses, and you find yourself further immersed and uplifted into this auditory message, almost feeling like at every dip and high of the instruments being played, new emotions from the memories in the lyrics are being found by the listener.
The bridge slows the pace of this seemingly whirlwind of a dreamy daydream and reminiscent song, it features a nice breakdown of sustained and longing vocals that feel whispery with its vibrato right before the instruments pick the song back up with some distortion effects and strong drums. The ending of this song is imbued with a sense of importance as the instruments come together with evocative vocals to build up a message and drive it home to make it come across to the audience that they will return to their lover one day. The final seconds of the song return to the beginning tone of the song with simple acoustic strings and a thick tube amp-toned riff that feels like you’re arriving at your final destination of this song experience.
LEEVAI
Yasu Cub
Written by Bridge
