L’Arc~en~Ciel "Wings Flap" Song And MV Review

“Wings Flap” is the newest single from the legendary Japanese rock band, L’Arc~en~Ciel. It’s the first single in a year and four months from the band and it officially released on December 23rd, 2015. With it’s uplifting lyrics and memorable chorus, it is by far my favorite song from 2015.

The song starts off with a mechanical sounding noise that sets the underlying melody for the rest of the song. Hyde chimes in with the English lyrics, “Wings flap in the night”. This introduction establishes the entire mood of the song. The precluding tune reoccurs throughout the song and is most predominant during the chorus (which lends itself to making the chorus a particularly catchy one). The theme of “Wings Flap” and flying is also a continued and expounded on with Hyde later stating, “I wanna fly fly fly high”.

The musical mechanics of the song are also profoundly perfect. Hyde’s voice is consistently clear and strong over the music and his ability to still hit the high notes at the age of 46 with his tobacco smoking tendencies is something to be truly admired. The rest of the instruments, bass, guitar, drums, all blend together flawlessly to support the melody. And in true L’Arc~en~ciel fashion there is a rather short guitar solo towards the end of the song, highlighting the musical prowess of the guitarist, Ken.

“Wings Flap” is an overall crowd pleaser - if you are a fan of L’Arc~en~Ciel’s older songs you will enjoy the melody and if you are a fan of their more recent rock style (as seen most closely in their “Smile” album) then you will also like this new single. But besides this, the thing that sets the song truly apart from the rest of the 2015 songs is the motivating lyrics. In English, Hyde sings, “I believe in the changing of seasons...I reset...I find a new gate to freedom”. A fierce emotion of wanting to immediately amending one’s life path and put it on new, higher course is embodied through the last line of the song, “I’m ready to fly high”.

L’Arc~en~Ciel Vocalist: Hyde

L’Arc~en~Ciel Guitarist: Ken

L’Arc~en~Ciel Drummer: Yuki

L’Arc~en~Ciel Bassist: Tetsu