The last single from Guy's Family offers three different styles of break up songs: a pop-rock fairytale number, an eclectic ballad and a high tempo rock track.
The innovative visual band Guy's Family surprisingly disbanded at the beginning of May. ROYAL HONEY was their last single, released on March 12, 2008, though they did release one more item after breaking up: a full album that came out in July.
The single opens with the prologue, an instrumental piece not quite a minute and a half long. The romantic, fairy tale mood of the whole album is set up right from the start with the dramatic composition of violins, drums, and harp. Though this segues into a playful segment with a faster beat and trumpet, it returns to the classical sound for the conclusion. And having peaked the listener's interest with this unusual beginning, the single then offers JULIET.
JULIET may be the most important song on the single in the sense that it continues the work of the prologue by setting the mood, and because it was the only song the band knew they would record. The other two songs were made later, with the idea that they would balance with JULIET. The mood that this first song creates is one of optimism and brightness mixed with an epic fairytale feel. As a light pop rock tune and fairly teenager-centric, it combines with the title to evoke a romantic image.
The guitars become a little heavy at times, though at other times they're playful, zipping around in different directions. The chorus has an epic, romantic feel as it slows down in comparison to the verses. But just as the relationship with Shakespeare's Juliet was doomed, JULIET is a break up song with accordingly bittersweet lyrics. And so a theme is established for the single, something vocalist Knight has said he enjoys doing: bringing darkness out in light songs.
Track two, innocent tears, is not the typical Guy's rock number, but it's not a traditional ballad either. Of the three songs, it's Reo's favorite, and once you hear it you may agree. The theme of the song is thoughts and wishes that can't be expressed, so they become flowing tears. Unlike the previous song, the pain in the lyrics are conveyed through the music itself as well. It opens softly like a soothing lullaby, along with some light acoustic, ornamental guitar. As the verse builds, more effects are added, such as when the guitar wavers like a florescent light flickering out. The refrain is, like the prologue and JULIET's refrain, very dramatic and classical. Announced by a chorus of high soaring violins that echo Knight's painful emotions, the drums pick up as well, playing more heavily but still simply. Straying from the ballad and classical aspects a bit is the bridge, where we're treated to a rocking guitar solo that brings us back to more familiar Guy's territory.
Knight had come up with the melody for the song some time before and wanted to eventually make something of it. He thought the song should be acoustic and handed it over to Shinobu, who, like Knight, had a hard time envisioning how to make it really sound Guy's style, how to compose it so they could play it as a band. He eventually cited the chorus being in minor key as the area that he found to be Guy's-like. Since they hadn't decided on much before they went in to record, they tried out different things at the last minute, relying on intuition. As they made different versions and added things in, the song rapidly became more dramatic. The result was this very imaginative and eclectic composition. All in all, innocent tears is a moving and unusual piece, one you'll listen to over and over, and one that Guy's Family should be proud of.
One would be hard pressed to decide on a favorite track from this single, but the fourth track, Return Walker, may be the winner, even though Reo had difficulty composing it and JULIET was supposed to have been the centerpiece. The power of the song contrasts the joyful business of the music with the painful lyrics, which describe a relationship fraught with conflict and the difficulty of pursuing a dream. This contrast runs throughout the CD and many of Guy's Family's works, but here it seems most evident, perhaps because of the three songs, it is the most immediately catchy and has the fastest pace.
The melody line in the chorus is simple and beautiful, easily riding over the frenzy of the music below. Though Takumi's drum play in the previous song was fairly simple, in this one he was able to do some interesting variations throughout that noticeably colored the song. As for the guitar parts, while one is quite active, the other is strummed leisurely, each note prolonged. Though Reo describes the guitar play in the song as simple, the overall effect is the exact opposite. The space seems to be packed with interesting melody lines, also aided by Kazutake's bass, which is consistently busy and gives the song just a twinge of a jazzy feel. Knight's vocal performance also seems to have a little something extra to it in this song.
ROYAL HONEY finishes up with a short epilogue, the classical segment taken from the prologue. Hearing it feels a bit like closing a child's story book of fairy tales, a result that attests to the band's limitless creativity. Each song on the release is unique and piercing, especially if you pay attention to the lyrics. This single will appeal to fans of rock and classical music alike. So for folks who haven't heard Guy's Family yet, please take a look at ROYAL HONEY and you'll see what the hype was about regarding this band.
