Yesterday we went to the outermost noise side of the Japanese music universe with Guitar Wolf, today we move far in the opposite direction with Sugar Plant. Chinatsu Shoyama and Shin’ichi Ogawa celebrate the 30th anniversary of their band with album number eight, One Dream, One Star. Its eight original songs refine their long-held language of drift and detail, with a newfound clarity in how stillness and motion coexist.
The lyrics trace a quiet emotional arc where love, memory, and self-understanding feel inseparable from the passage of time, with a shared idea of surrendering to life’s flow, accepting distance and uncertainty, and finding fleeting but profound unity: “Still dreaming of holding you // Still dreaming of touching you // Still dreaming of feeling you // Still dreaming of sunlit rain” (from Sunlit Rain).
Actually, it’s even more about the emotions and atmosphere evoked by the mesmerizing music and angelic vocals. This is what the definition of dream pop sounds like. A gentle meditation on connection and letting go, breathing in confusion and exhaling calm.
One Dream, One Star—produced by Shin’ichi Ogawa—is out now digitally and on CD through KiliKiliVilla. Featuring Chinatsu Shoyama (vocals, bass) and Shin’ichi Ogawa (guitar, synth), with Harunobu Aoki (keys), Hiroshi Fujiqui (synth), and Yuji Sashizawa (drums).