Meis Clauson X Rita: "Star's Voice"

Meis Clauson dropped another disc, but this time he ditched Yuiko and teamed up with Rita, released under his own circle “The Root of heads”. I preordered it. Originally I was going to order through Toranoana, but they’re a pain about proxy shipping — they wanted my real name in kanji. So I write my Chinese name, and they tell me the kanji in my name don’t exist in Japanese. Bruh. Ended up going with Melonbooks instead.

Been listening for about half a month now, and my feelings are complicated… This disc counts as indie music, I guess. Not many tracks.

First off, the style is still that passionate Meis Clauson flavor — nothing’s changed there. Then there’s Rita as the vocalist, who somehow sings it exactly like Yuiko would. How do I put this… maybe it’s because Yuiko wrote the lyrics? Like, no matter how I listen, sometimes I get this hallucination that “this is Yuiko singing, not Rita.” Rita has always given me a bit of a tomboy vibe — her voice has punch, way more punch than Yuiko. But none of the tracks on this disc have that kind of punchy style; it’s just passionate, the kind of thing Yuiko used to sing. Swapping in Rita this time, it feels like they didn’t really let her show off what makes her Rita.

The songs are still good, though. I’m partial to “キミと交差点” — sweet and lilting. That said, a clearer, sweeter female voice would suit it better. Someone like Yuiko, say.

So maybe Rita’s still better off with stuff like Winter Diamond or Little Busters?