Good lord. In the chat during the podcast the other day, I was (not alone!) extolling the incredible virtues of Yanakoto Sotto Mute’s “Any” MV and how it was this perfect starter for their TIF sets, and I’d said upon its release that it’s high energy and almost bright look at the world was so refreshing. That’s great! However, Yanamyu’s best material is traipsing around in the dark, damp corners of angsty psyches, invoking the feel of rainy evenings in flannel. So, “AWAKE”:

Leave it to YSM to put out an MV for the best song (ahem) on the STAMP EP* as the second promo for the thing. I didn’t think that “Any” was a particularly great contender for Of the Year stuff (except maybe Surprising Earworm); I wouldn’t be mad if people liked this one in a couple of categories.

I obviously like the song (I called it the best on the record!); it’s the MV that sells me. I don’t really know how to describe that washed-out color palette that’s nonetheless oversaturated, but that. The playing around. The fact that the song’s choreography is cool as hell and allowed to shine in an idol MV that isn’t “transporting our stage set to a public park/warehouse/green screen.” I keep playing it on repeat, looking of additional little touches (like the cat, the most YSM of all animals).

Also, because “auditorium,” is anybody else having a very “Cirice” kind of feeling? I mean, no, that’s silly, but still, “Cirice.”

Yanakoto Sotto Mute’s playing with house money right now. I don’t know what their popularity ceiling is, honestly, but this feels like a project with very intentional designs on being way bigger than your standard idol venues. I’m just mad that STEMP EP is so new that it’s going to be a while until they release something else again.

*Which I’m not going to review, btw, even though I already have in my brain, because I’ve been lazy about reviews and I’m pretty sure that the last one I did was for Yanamyu, so.