If you google image search 緑の都市 (which literally means "green city") you'll be in for a treat. There are loads of photos and pictures of "green cities" around the world, from futuristic plans for cities imbued with living-and-breathing greenery to actual cities brimming with plantlife. It's kind of a utopian vision; one plan sees a verdant cycle path created as a second floor for a highway overpass; another is an actual photo of a stepped building covered in a forest of trees. It's beautiful~
Other than that, it's the title of a brand new song by Y E Λ R S, or as I'm going to say from now on, YEARS. One of the sparks that ignited the now very popular kinda otaku or anime trap style (there's no other name for it as far as I know so…) this musicmaker is very prolific, pairing chilled atmospheres with hard beats for soundscapes that are as transportive as they are head-nodding.
This latest one, 緑の都市, feels a little different. Taking some orchestration from somewhere (or maybe it's original), it's looped and then allowed to continue into its flighty fantasy, whimsical melodies fluttering throughout. Coupled with a simple beat that features rolling hi-hats, handclaps and one particularly pronounced kick that hides a blast of sub-bass, it does indeed feel like the perfect soundtrack to a green city, or Green City.
The natural feel of the flute and strings in the orchestration conjures images of rustling leaves, green shrubbery, flowers skipping in the breeze, lush grass – the beat, on the other hand, effuses a more synthetic feel, precise and man-made and future-facing, yet working with the organic instruments to produce a beautiful harmony. YEARS has made a sonic illustration of the possible unity that can exist between the natural world and our technological one; both can be as destructive as each other, but only one can think for itself: that's us. We can build green cities!
What happened to YEARS? The accounts all seem to be gone...
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