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CMU Approved
Approved: illion
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 9 May 2013
Radwimps frontman Yojiro Noda released his debut solo album, ‘Ubu’, through Warner Music earlier this year, under the name illion.
Splitting his vocals between English and Japanese, the record spans a vast range of styles from twitchy math-rock to cinematic piano ballads. His sound has been compared to Radiohead, and the influence seems clear on a number of the album’s tracks, but despite this, Noda stamps his own mark all over the album.
Ahead of its release in February, illion pre-empted the LP with a double A-side single, featuring ‘Mahoroba’ and ‘Beehive’. The former was deemed the lead track, showing off illion’s softer side, and its playing on the vocal edits which cut into Noda’s delivery throughout the track.
However, ‘Beehive’, the most guitar-led track on the album now has its own video too, and it’s easy to see why it’s taken several months for it to appear. In the video, the music seems to take control of an abandoned room, as painstaking animation makes objects burst into splashes of bright colour and chase each other around the space, becoming more frantic as the song does too.
Watch the ‘Beehive’ video here: