Plastic Tree’s Ryutaro Arimura’s Makes Solo Debut with "デも/demo"

Seasoned Visual Kei fans may be familiar with long-running band Plastic Tree. Though often classified as a visual rock band, their music style mainly follows the alternative genre with new-wave and shoegaze influences.

Plastic Tree’s front man and backup guitarist Ryutaro Arimura has recently made his solo debut with his mini album release titled: “デも/demo”! デも/demo is made up of Ryutaro’s personal, unpublished work spanning from 1996 to 2013. To give life to this unpublished music, he collaborated with Hirofumi Hatano of People in The Box who worked on the arrangements for the mini album! Other guest musicians include Yusuke Kobayashi (The Novembers), Toriishi Ryouta , and Takaga Ryousuke (chouchou merged syrups).

To fully get a good experience of what デも/demo had to offer, I purchased the limited edition version A. [there are three versions to choose from including a regular and two limited edition versions of the mini album] which included three acoustic versions of the six songs. A DVD which had six PV’s for each song on the mini album. Each limited edition version came with a title card that had “デも/demo” handwritten by Ryutaro himself! I was ecstatic about what I was going to experience with his new work!

Genkeitêpu

The longing and lonely sounding intro accompanied by the upbeat chime of a music box is our first glimpse into this mini album. Ryutaro’s echoed vocals give the impression that we’re about to enter a uniquely written dream world.

Fuyuu

This emotionally driven shoegaze song is great start into デも/demo. Ryutaro’s sleepy vocals mix with the distorted guitar as you get the impression of him singing into the beyond.

Manegoto

We go into a more upbeat and catchy turn with the soft start of the guitar and piano combo as Ryutaro sings with more positive energy. From listening to this song, I had the impression that this was a potential Plastic Tree song from the tone it gave off. It honestly has the air of a potential single.

Mata, Otsukisama

The Piano intro directs us into a mellower tune that Manegoto led us into. The mid-tempo guitar and drum make you want to want to watch the rain as you listen to this. It took a few times to get a readable impression on this song since it strikes me as a bit more of a passive song. I didn’t exactly feel the strength in this song compared to the two previous ones. Despite this, I did enjoy how well the piano mixed in to the vocals and guitar.

Ufufu

The short yet sweet intermission of Ryutaro’s echoed and distorted voice foreshadowed what was to come next!

Nekoyume

The energy picks up as the song begins with an upbeat guitar and bass progression. Nekoyume has such a catchy guitar tune and Ryutaro’s voice just increases the energy. This sounds like another potential Plastic Tree song to me. I’m fairly impressed with his high notes because they don’t always come out the cleanest in Plastic Tree songs. He seems to have a sort of difficulty pulling them off, but when you take in mind his soft and often child-like voice, it seems to be intentional.

Kagidokei

We are greeted by the beat of a drum and guitar progression which come together with the innocent sounding vocals Ryutaro adds in to really makes this a sleepy and mellow song to cozy up to.

Rentogen

This is certainly a different song style from any previous work I’ve heard from Ryutaro’s previous work. His singing style is certainly different which really stands out. Some people might be put off by the distortion mid-song, but it gives an interesting type of depth to this song.

Ryutaro Arimura has been known for his unique style as the front man for Plastic Tree. We get to see a whole other angle of what he wants to express as a musician with デも/demo.  This mini album gives us an eclectic mix of dark and somber emotions to bright, energetic, and mellow moments. Fuyuu was certainly a shoe gaze style emotional rollercoaster of a song that stuck to me. While I felt Mata, Otsukisama was lacking and didn’t exactly hit the emotional appeal I was hoping for. This is certainly a treat for any Plastic Tree fans and any fans of visual rock with a more mellow and emotional draw in music!

-Paloma (Alpacqueen)

Ryutaro Arimura’s Official Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCve8Mb49xDYIYKD7mAIH8wA/featured
Official Website: http://arimuraryutaro.com/
Plastic Tree Official Website: http://www.jrock.jp/plastictree/