Meto Music CD Album: First Thoughts

One regret of mine: the game Mahoutsukai no Yoru never got an OST release.

Sure, you can extract the OGG files from the game, but those aren’t lossless—I actually ripped a set myself, just couldn’t be bothered to type in the names for the tags. I kept thinking an OST would come out eventually, and, well, you know how it goes. Years pass, the next game is about to launch, and the previous game’s OST is still nowhere.

The composer is Meto. This isn’t the first time he’s worked with the writer Rukuru, if I remember right—Unmei Yohou wo Oshirase Shimasu had BGM by him too, so did Mahoutsukai no Yoru, and the composer for Suisou Ginka no Istoria, out next month, is him again.

I don’t know if they’re doing it on purpose or what, but none of the games Rukuru and his crew work on ever get an OST release. Even Unmei Yohou wo Oshirase Shimasu was originally supposed to include an OST with the special edition, and then right before release they just… cut it. And Suisou Ginka no Istoria is only getting the theme song Azurite no Hitsugi as a bonus.

So I poked around Meto’s personal site out of curiosity and found he’s been composing music on his own all along, and he sells CDs of his own work right there. So I picked up the package versions to show some support.

(A few CDs in there are just gate-crashing, please ignore them.)

The albums are Shimmidori no Eden, Invert, Yumemiru Shoujo no Yotsu no Shuumatsu, Piano Collection Ⅰ, and Garden of vacancy　Kuuhaku no Garden. The piano collection Piano Collection Ⅰ is download-only, so I bought physical copies of everything that had one.

I know we’re in the digital music age, but I’ve got this Japanese way of thinking stuck in me—having a physical edition feels safer, and it has that classic feel to it.

Meto also included a handwritten thank-you card.

At first I assumed it was printed, like those thank-you notes you get on Taobao. Then I looked closer—holy crap, it’s actually handwritten. Kind of touching.

So, thoughts on the music.

Shimmidori no Eden is probably the most complete album in Meto’s style, though unlike his other indie tracks, he brought in a male vocalist here.

The whole album’s mood, like the name suggests, builds an ethereal Eden-like atmosphere—starting calm, swelling in the middle, then settling back into quiet. Listening straight through feels like a short stroll through a wonderland. The intro track, Closed heaven -The Hanged Man-, shouldn’t be unfamiliar to Mahoutsukai no Yoru players—the style is way too similar…

Invert is a small EP with only three tracks, but it basically represents Meto’s three modes: calm, gentle, and intense. Compared to that, Yumemiru Shoujo no Yotsu no Shuumatsu isn’t all that different from Shimmidori no Eden in style, though it’s a bit more polished—later work, after all—and the vocals are female this time.

The newest album, Garden of vacancy　Kuuhaku no Garden, changes things up—more intense and psychedelic. Hard to put into words; if I had to say, it’s similar to the style of the Suisou Ginka no Istoria OP.

As for Piano Collection Ⅰ, it’s really just melodies pulled from the vocal albums and played on piano, but the style comes through clearly—it really brings out the melancholy in the melodies.

Meto’s style isn’t all that varied, and he mostly sticks to gentle stuff—the exact opposite route from meis clauson—but his style is distinctive, and he seems to keep sticking to it.

Someone once said, do one thing and do it to perfection, and that’s a fine path too. Plenty of people in Japan’s music scene do exactly that.

Meto’s music is best enjoyed some night with the lights dimmed low, listening quietly. It won’t interfere with you much—great as BGM—but afterward, some melody might slowly come back to you at some point. Before you know it, his music has seeped into you, just like the paradise and garden themes he likes so much. What he builds for you is a quiet, deep garden.

P.S. I put together a list of Meto tracks you can find on NetEase Cloud Music:

http://music.163.com/#/playlist?id=620140742