April Set seasonal single: Snow

April Set: 雪 / 海の低でうたう唄
(Unchantable Records, UCT-050, Japan, 2023)

In 2003, April Set released their debut album 'Les Classiques' on the Japanese label New World Records. The album was a compilation of two 12" EPs that April Set had released in 2000 and 2003 on the strangely named Afters Or Records, 'Baile Eterno' in 2000 and 'Bossa Presso' in 2003. April Set was the alias of Japanese producer Masanori Suzuki. Suzuki was a very active producer since the late 1990s. He had also released several 12"'s under the name The Fairbanks and had recorded as part of the DJ collective Blue Café and the duo Peanut Butter Workshop. Suzuki's music was influenced by jazz, soul, funk, easy listening and especially bossa nova. This was evident on the April Set releases. One of the four songs on April Set's debut EP, "Baile Eterno," was called 雪, which is pronounced yuki and means 'snow'. It featured a number of guest musicians: Torahiko Yukawa on guitar, Noboru Abe (of the house duo Studio Apartment) on keyboards, Keiko Saito (of the future jazz group Acoustic Dub Messengers) on flute and Blue, i.e. singer Yae (Fujumoto) on vocals. Yae also recorded as a solo artist and released her debut album "New Aeon" in 2001.

雪 was written by Takuro Yoshida, a Japanese folk singer and songwriter. The original performance of Snow was on Yoshida's debut album, 青春の詩, released in 1970. Yoshida had a long career as a singer, composer and arranger. Many other artists recorded his songs (such as April Set). He also composed theme songs for television shows. 雪tells the story of a chance encounter between two people who meet in a small town in a snowy country. The man feels the urge to follow the woman. Then she turns around and they look at each other for a moment. For both of them, the memory of this special encounter returns every time it snows. And the man longs for a winter with snow again, so that he can follow the woman in her footsteps through the snow.

This year, Japanese label Unchantable Records re-released 雪 and another track from the 2003 album, 海の低でうたう唄 ("Songs To Be Sung At The Bottom Of The Sea") on a 7", packaged in a sleeve with a wintry landscape full of snow on the front. Both songs appear in a new 7" mix. At first glance, snow, winter scenes and bossa nova don't seem to go well together, but April Set's ‘Snow’ proves otherwise. Backed by sleigh bells and Yae's relaxed vocals, the song quickly immerses you in a beautiful winter wonderland. It soon becomes clear that Bossa Nova is not only at home on the sunny beaches of Rio de Janeiro, but also on the snowy streets of Tokyo. It's a modern interpretation of bossa nova, though, because the fact that no drummer or percussionist participated in the recording means that all the rhythms come from an electronic device. But you can hardly hear it. The flute adds extra authenticity to the song. The B-side is more uptempo, a real dancefloor filler.

Listen to the full length version of 'Snow' on Youtube:

It is always difficult to get your hands on Japanese releases, if you are not living in Japan. CD Japan ships internationally, and has a site in English. Unfortunately, at the moment, the record is sold out. Hopefully they will get new copies in.