On May 14, singer-songwriter Satoru Ono released a vinyl single titled "All My Colours." Anyone who knows Ono's work would have found themselves on familiar ground with the two tracks, in their mix of 1980s U.K. indie and '90s Japanese neo-acoustic pop, delivered with a classic pop craftsman's hand.
The difference is that Ono's back catalog has been predominantly sung in English, while these new tracks feature him singing in his native Japanese for the first time.
The English lyrics often found in Japanese music can sometimes seem baffling to native English speakers. When sung imperfectly (which is often the case), I find listeners tend to think of them as either charming or annoying. However, for Japanese musicians, this linguistic choice can be a serious one, with both cultural and artistic implications.
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