Well oops. Not-quite-the-latest Codomomental project, akugi, who is currently in the lead for Group Most Likely To Fill The Komachi-Shaped Hole In Your Heart, officially dropped their second single and MV and … well, this is really different from the last one! In fact, my above description is way more apt than I would’ve expected. Team, predictably, adores the track and had a brief chat about the video, and then we all had other things to do and holy hell it’s Saturday, let’s real quick do something with akugi before the boss thinks we don’t like their things anymore.

It’s actually a really easy thing to do. Frankly, I’ve had the refrain in my head for days and have been completely happy about it. So, on the off chance that you’re in this community and you like sequester yourself from Codomomental for some reason and aren’t hip to akugi, let’s take this brief step back into, uh, mid-week to enjoy it all again:

What a gorgeous little tune. Absolutely pulling from early Tsurezure (sans screams), but that ethereal, I’ve-detached-myself-emotionally-because-to-face-reality-will-be-to-face-devastation sound is such a signature of the company, especially the groups that really lean into the more psychic side of the “yami” in yami-kawaii. And of course the MV to support is equal parts beautiful and deeply unsettling, with the suicidal ideation and evocatively shot choreo-on-a-mountain. Wouldn’t expect anything less!

akugi was going to be one to watch closely just by association, and even if they stick with this sound don’t cross all the way back over into truly loud territory they’re still spiritually one of us — how long they go on that journey, and which musical elements they adopt to create their signature identity within a company that’s shown no shortage of creativity or willingness to stretch that creativity, that’s going to be the fun part for us to follow.