Seaslug Reviews: “High Collar Record” by moff

Hello and Good day everyone, Seaslug here with an album review and today, we’ll be taking a closer look at a shoegaze album from moff-P!

Title: High Collar Record
Producer: moffuP/もっふーP/moff
Genre: Shoegaze

Some of You might wonder what “Shoegaze” is, it’s a fairly uncommon genre to stumble upon even for most Vocaloid listeners. Shoegaze can be defined by its subdued vocals, heavily FXed guitars, and fantastic drum tracks. It’s not that big genre despite its age. It’s been around since the 90’s.

So it’s basically an unpopular album from an unpopular producer?

Weeeeell… It’s not quite simple as that.

After many years of listening to Vocaloid, this album was quite a breath of fresh air. It’s one of those albums that make you wonder “where has this been??”. Without further ado, here are my words for the tracks on his album:

My Personal Favorites:

(Track 1) アバズレガールは空を飛ぶ – Strong intro, good solo and an ending that leaves you wanting more. It just suddenly ends in a good way. Has a quite shocking intro when your volume is at max.

(Track 2) Halo – Here’s a song that easily tells you what Shoegazing is. You can’t hear the lyrics well, but strangely you won’t mind. The vocals are singing as if one with the instruments, easily of the best tracks of the album.

(Track 4) 非実在少年は眠らない – My favorite track on this album. Remember when I said shoegaze has a lack of emphasis on vocals? Well scratch that, this song is the exception to that rule. The vocals are there and you can easily hear them singing memorable lyrics. Catchy and feels good to listen to.

(Track 5) Flashback.0217 – Likely to be the most relaxing song on this album. Sends you to a dream state like you’re floating in your sleep! If I was driving my car through a tunnel I would play this song as loud as possible and just enjoy the ride. P.S. I dont have a car.

(Track 7) Water room.Watermoon – Slow and steady with a pinch of sadness. Calm and relaxing as if trying to make you sleepy. 

Tracks that are good ( There’s really just no track I don’t like on this album):

(Track 3) 吸血少女、夜を行く – Strangely reminds me of Mekaku City Actors. What I find most enjoyable of this song is the outro. Not my cup of tea, but it’s definitely not a bad song. Absolutely worth a try.

(Track 6) 酩酊少女は夢を見る – Seems to have the same structure as Track 1. A strong guitar intro, a good guitar solo and a sudden ending. 

(Track 8) それでも僕は歌を唄う – Another track that stands out, the guitars aren’t that heavily FXed and it’s absolutely a breeze to listen to. It’s slower than a fast song but faster than a slow song.

(Track 9) 白昼夢とマリア – This track feels like an appropriate ending for this album. Has traces of electronic instruments that complement the song and build up to a nice guitar solo. It doesn’t stand out that much, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t special!

Final thoughts:

Overall this gonna be one of the albums I won’t forget, and to be perfectly honest, every track here is good in my book. Why do I like this one so much?

The songs made me feel many things while still being all the same genre. In spite of all that variety you can still sense a coherent theme that just works. Do be careful when giving this album a listen as it is a tad louder than other albums I’ve heard. And by loud I mean it has decibels, it is not in any way loud and noisy. It’s most likely an issue attributed to the mixing when this track was made.

Would I recommend this album? Yes, please try it. This producer deserves more attention, and I like his style, he doesn’t make the vocals sound too thin like some I’ve heard, it just sounds natural and it suits the tracks well.  But if you listen purely to electronic music and pop, you might not enjoy it as much.

If you have different opinions about this album do tell me in the comments. It always helps to see it in different perspectives.

It’s been nice, I’ll see you all soon!