DAWNRAZER - Tokyo After Dark
Written by KIZUNAUT
In an age where almost everyone is eager to push their content on social media, finding exceptional music made by people with minimal internet presence is always a genuine pleasant surprise. Describing themselves as “Dark synth from Tokyo” on their Bandcamp page and with little else information to be found anywhere, DAWNRAZER is such a surprise.
Tokyo Dark is the project’s debut album. Their earlier output consists of the short EPs, Credo and Crisis (the latter is only on Bandcamp for whatever reason) and the curious 48-minute single-track release “Night in MegaTokyo” (also only on Bandcamp) that contains some of the tracks from the Tokyo Dark album. All of this has been published within 2020, so Dawnrazer has been hard at work making music in midst of the pandemic. Judging by the quality of their output, this however isn’t their first stab at making music.
Describing the album as “Hard and dark music for cyberpunks” on Bandcamp and coming with a Ghost in the Shell influenced album cover, Tokyo Dark clearly displays it’s influences and intentions. The album does indeed deliver in hard and dark cyberpunk-tinted music, but listeners will also find more atmospheric pieces among the more beat-driven pieces in the album.
The overall style is very synthetic, futuristic and in your face. The production is mostly excellent: the tracks are loud, strong and full, but not too hard on the listeners’ ears either. Dawnrazer incorporates enough small details and variations on most of the tracks to make listening to them not too monotonous. Occasional voice samples of spoken Japanese further reinforce the context the album sets up.
The title track Tokyo Dark opens with deep, dark ambience surrounded by distant electronic beeps and ghostly noises. Soon heavy synth pads swell over the ambience, which are then joined by a melodic arpeggio followed by string-like synth melodies. The track paints a stark, powerful, futuristic image and is an amazing start for the album that sets the tone wonderfully.
The title track is followed by Toki no Uta which opens with wailing choirs highly reminiscent of the soundtrack of the first Ghost in the Shell movie. Hard synths soon overtake the choirs and the track quickly evolves into an utterly pulverizing darksynth track. The wailing choirs return every now and then among the track, and weighty synth string leads come to give the track further atmosphere. It’s an immensively powerful piece of music with enough variety and elements to prevent it from degrading into a sheer fest of hard saw synths.
The next track Urahara opens with a bass arpeggio that would promise more synthwave-oriented material, but when the beat comes in the track evolves into something that is a bit more reminiscent of dubstep. Once again wailing choirs come to visit the track every now and then. The track paints a hectic, distressed image. Latter half of the track features a lengthy guitar solo over the hard beats, bringing variety to the sonic landscape.
Azabu Domina is drive forwards by a very slow, heavy beat and deep bass. Metallic synth sequences and almost wind-like background noises pervade the track. Low synth strings and glassy pads sketch a sinister ambience.
Shinjuku Zero opens with strange futuristic noises which morph into what sounds like a swarm of motorcycles passing around you. A heavy, deep bass arp hammers underneath. Thin synth strings come to offer melodic content, and a mid-tempo beat starts propelling the track forwards. Fuller synths come in to join the strings which play together a very enjoyable wistful melody. Stylistically this sets somewhere in the middle between the very beat-driven harder tracks and the more atmospheric ones.
Frozen Time begins a streak a three atmosphere-oriented tracks. A repeating synth bassline and slow beats push the track forward, and dark ambient sounds and occasional choirs bring color to the track. Neuro Tripper begins with sinister ambient sounds, which are soon overtaken by a resonant synth arpeggio, followed by synth strings which dominate the track. There is something almost Jean Miche Jarre-esque about the earlier half of the track. Eventually the strings fade and give way to heavy, but slow bassline, which then gives once again way to the synth strings before the track fades into ambient noise. Shinjuku Zero Sunset opens with futuristic ambient noises and heavily warped sounds of urban life. Heavily reverbed clanking sounds give the track an almost factory-like feeling. The more abstract ambient elements give way to phasing, heavy synth pads, which then once again dissolve into sinister urban ambience.
After three atmospheric tracks, Girls and Guns kicks the album back into motion. Opening with a combined bell/resonant synth tone that could set up a more traditional synthwave song. It insteadly rapidly evolves into an utterly demolishing futuristic darksynth banger. Glitchy saw synths bend and skitter over a heavy bassline, which are joined by various sound effects and chiptune-style leads. Occasional bursts of sharp gunfire-like percussions and pained yelps serve as the hooks. Hard, straightforward and one of my personal favorites from the album.
Kaori in the City opens with sounds of rain and a woman speaking, followed by e-piano like synths. A bassline and a beat join the song after few atmospheric effects, and the track evolves into a powerful synthwave-type of piece after heavy saw synth come in. A breakdown of rather shrill synths leads into the main part of the song, which offers a somewhat chiptune-type of lead soaring over a driving beat and bassline. The track is weighty and hefty, but also has more melodic elements than the preceding offerings, sitting somewhere between darksynth and lighter synthwave. One of the definitive highlights of the album.
Death or Glory offers another piece that veers closer to traditional synthwave and offers a similar mix of heavy synths and melodic elements. A constantly evolving synth lead is joined by occasional chiptune-like rapid chord arpeggios and wailing choirs recalling the earlier tracks from the album. The track maintains a fine balance between the harder and more driving elements and the synth leads and offers a fine ending to the album.
My criticism towards the album boils down to pacing. I feel like the album would have strongly benefited from a bit different track order. The three atmospheric tracks that come after the halfway of the album are all fine on their own, but one after another they kind of grind the flow of the album to a standstill for a while. The more ambient tracks could have perhaps also done with a bit more airy production.
I also feel like the album overall tends to cluster kind of similar tracks together. Mixing things up a bit would have likely made the album flow better and highlighted the diversity contained within the hard futurism presented on the album.
Nevertheless, even with these critiques, Tokyo Dark is an incredible debut release. It’s highly recommended for fans of dark futuristic electronic music. Dawnrazer has a strong, recognizable style and a clear capability at articulating a particular vision. It will be interesting to see where they go next.
For more Dawnrazer, visit https://dawnrazer.bandcamp.com/
