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Untitled

Newtown is the first extended play by Japanese band Folks, released on February 12, 2014.[1] It was the band's first major label release under Ki/oon Music.

Background and development

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Folks first formed in 2013 when former Galileo Galilei members Fumito Iwai and Kazumasa Noguchi moved back to their birthplace of Hokkaido to start a band. Iwai and Noguchi asked former Guild member Yoshitomo Kobayashi to join their band, and they moved to Sapporo, renting a house with Iwai's older brother Katsutoshi Iwai and his friend Masatsugu Takahashi, who later joined Folks.[2] The group based themselves at their hometown of Eniwa, Hokkaido, and released their first extended play Take Off in March 2013, and performed at the Rising Sun Rock Festival, on August 17, 2013.[3]

Writing and production

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Newtown was recorded in Sapporo, at Hit Studio and Geimori Studio.[4] The album features four of the five songs on Take Off (the song "Gaga" was retitled "You're Right"), along with three new compositions. Fumito Iwai is the main songwriter and vocalist for the album, writing every track except "River," which was written and sung by Katsutoshi Iwai. The song "Good-bye, Friends" was composed by all members of Folks, but featured lyrics written by Fumito Iwai.[4] Their self-produced 2012 extended play Take Off was produced and arranged by Fumito Iwai alone, but Newtown was created from the advice and response of all five members of the band.[5] The arrangements of Take Off songs were changed after the band performed them in front of live audiences. Fumito Iwai had never considered what the songs would sound like live, so experimented by changed the songs' percussion balance and tempo, and created live arrangements for the songs.[5] The song "Everything Is Alone" was described as having an "updated funk sound" by Fumito Iwai, and was a mix of everything the band members wanted to express in a song.[6] Tatsuki Masuko, member of Japanese instrumental band Rovo, was brought in to help mix and mastered Newtown.[3] This was compared to Take Off, which Fumito Iwai mixed all by himself.[5]

The title Newtown refers to the planned community of Megumino in Eniwa, which is a motif of the release.[6] The cover and artist promotional photos were taken in Eniwa by photographer Yoshiharu Ota, as well as the music video for "Everything Is Alone."[7] The video was shot at the members' homes in Megumino.[6]

Promotion and release

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"Everything Is Alone" was the lead song promoting the album.[6] The song was released to radio stations and received a music video, which was a power play video on music video station Space Shower TV in January 2014.[8] The song received minor requests to radio stations on a national level in January 2014,[9][10][11] however was extremely popular in Hokkaido, being the number one requested song at radio stations for January 2014.[12] The song peaked at number 81 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay Chart.[13] The song was chosen as the February ending theme song for Nagoya radio station Zip-FM's Spice Up weekend morning radio show.[14]

The band performed their first live outside of Hokkaido at the Tokyo Tsutaya O-West on January 20, 2014.[3] The band held their first live in Eniwa just after the extended play's release, on February 15, 2014 at the Eniwa Musōkan, where Fumito Iwai's high school band Guild first performed.[15]

Critical reception

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Critical reception to Newtown was positive. Akihiro Okumura from What's In? was impressed with the "overseas resonance" of the band, likening Folks to indie rock musicians like Passion Pit and Mumford and Sons, as well as having the approach of James Blake. Okumura was very impressed by the "lyrical vocal lines" of Fumito Iwai and Kazutoshi Iwai, and likened them to the 1980s city pop movement in Japanese music.[16] Saori Kishiba, a reviewer for Skream!, likened the band to Animal Collective and Arcade Fire, praising the "dreamy pop sound" and polished arrangements of songs on Newtown.[16]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Everything Is Alone"Fumito Iwai4:18
2."Two Young"Fumito Iwai4:15
3."Forever"Fumito Iwai4:26
4."Good-bye, Friends"Fumito Iwai, Folks5:23
5."River"Katsutoshi Iwai4:24
6."You're Right"Fumito Iwai5:05
7."Replica"Fumito Iwai4:44
Total length:32:56

Chart rankings

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Charts

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Charts (2012) Peak
position
Japan Oricon weekly albums[17] xxx

Sales and certifications

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Chart Amount
Oricon physical sales[18] xxx

Personnel

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Personnel details were sourced from Newtown's liner notes booklet.[4]

Folks

Technical, production and imagery

Release history

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Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalogue codes
Japan February 12, 2014 (2014-02-12)[1] CD, digital download Ki/oon Music KSCL-2354
March 1, 2014 (2014-03-01)[19] Rental CD

References

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  1. ^ a b "Newtown Folks" (in Japanese). Tower Records. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  2. ^ Saori Kishiba (February 2014). "Interview: Folks" (in Japanese). Skream!. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "北海道発5人組バンド、FOLKSがキューンからデビュー" (in Japanese). Tower Records. December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c Newtown (Media notes) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Ki/oon Music. 2014. {{cite AV media notes}}: Unknown parameter |artist= ignored (|others= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c Dai Onojima (February 12, 2014). "[Power Push] FOLKS「NEWTOWN」インタビュー" (in Japanese). Natalie. Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d Shoichi Miyake (2014). "Power Push! Interview 2014.01 Folks" (in Japanese). Space Shower. Archived from the original on January 29, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  7. ^ "北海道在住の新鋭5人組FOLKSが2月にメジャー進出" (in Japanese). Natalie. December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "一月のPower pushに決定した" (in Japanese). Folks. January 21, 2014. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "有線ランキング 邦楽リクエストランキング 2014/01/24付(対象期間：2014.01.11-2014.01.17)" (in Japanese). Cansystem. 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  10. ^ "有線ランキング 邦楽リクエストランキング 2014/01/31付(対象期間：2014.01.18-2014.01.24)" (in Japanese). Cansystem. 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  11. ^ "有線ランキング 邦楽リクエストランキング 2014/02/07付(対象期間：2014.01.25-2014.01.31)" (in Japanese). Cansystem. 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; January 9, 2013 suggested (help)
  12. ^ "札幌地区 J-POP月間リクエストランキング 2014.01.01-2014.01.31(2014/02/04付)" (in Japanese). Cansystem. 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  13. ^ "Adult Contemporary Airplay 2014/02/03". Billboard (in Japanese). January 30, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  14. ^ "名古屋のラジオZIP-FMさん!" (in Japanese). Folks. February 9, 2014. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "恵庭市のロックバンド「フォークス」が地元でライブ　原田市長にメジャーデビューを報告" (in Japanese). Tomakomai Mimpo. January 28, 2014. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 9, 2014 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ a b Akihiro Okumura (2014). "すべてを持ち合わせたブライテスト・ホープ from 北海道" (in Japanese). What's In?. Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) Cite error: The named reference "Review-SkreamNewtown" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  17. ^ "「NEWTOWN」 FOLKS" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  18. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon. Retrieved February 19, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ "ＮＥＷＴＯＷＮ／ＦＯＬＫＳ" (in Japanese). Tsutaya. Retrieved February 10, 2014.

Category:2014 EPs Category:Eniwa, Hokkaido Category:Indie pop EPs Category:Indie pop albums by Japanese artists Category:Indie rock EPs Category:Indie rock albums by Japanese artists Category:Japanese-language EPs

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