It's So Hard (not) To Love: DYGL

How to rank the Top 3 of your favourite band? 

My answer will be: The Strokes, DYGL, The Voidz.

Though I’ll change ranking of No. 1 and No. 3 sometimes, but DYGL had always appeared in the middle of two, placed in the middle of periodic table, roughly between iron and silver.

Maybe they had existed in recommend facebook fan page, on the right side of window just before  algorithm of Facebook haven’t been contaminated by capitalism. The link of EP #1^[1], which showed on fan page. Trembling white strokes write down “DYGL” on black base of thumbnail image, that’s your first glimpse of DYGL.  Though it’s only a prototype of their first work, you can still tell that they’re more than that. 

They lived in 2003, but making music in 2010s.

 Post-punk revival starting from 00s, with The Strokes, The Libertines, Interpol and more band that played in underground, let Rock staged a successful comeback with tailored suit with converse. Nowadays, some band had survived after post-punk revival stop pedding. But back to the golden era, bunches of the band had crossed over pacific ocean and landed on Tokyo.

Have you ever found, the music that you deeply into when you were a juvenile will always come back to you? You’re haunted, living with the good old day ghost. 

So did DYGL. 

Nobuki Akiyama (vocal & guitar)、Yosuke Shimonaka (guitar)、Yotaro Kachi (bass) and  Kohei Kamoto(drum) formed DYGL in Tokyo, 2012. 

From these boys were young, they’ve meet The Beatles, The Smiths, Suede, The Strokes, The View^[2], The Libertines and Blur. Out of the love of British rock and American music, they starting playing music from senior high school. When they studies in Meiji Gaukin University, they meet each other in ‘Contemporary Music Club’. With nearly same taste of music, these 4 guys finally have the soul mate lived in echo chamber. 

Compared with trending music genres:  rap, electronic music, city pop, kpop, bedroom pop, rock seems lost its glory. Like one of millions “the LAST rock’n’roll band”, DYGL decided to devoted into this industry. The band was called “De Nada”^[3] at first, then “DYGL” (as we all know), in halfway they suddenly determined that they should be as “Leather”.  After 3 months, they changed band name back,  just because they felt more comfortable as DYGL. (Thank god, you don’t know how excited I was when I found that they changed their name back)

(Photo Credit: DYGL)

AS "DYGL".

 “Japanese band that sing in English.”

This might be the first impression of DYGL. Nobuki, the frontman of DYGL had been asked these kind of question constantly, “Why do you sing in English?”, “Would you publish songs sing in Japanese?"

The asnwer is firm and umchanged: “As DYGL, we will only sing in English.” 

Merely because DYGL feel more comfortable to sing in English, because 3 of them major English in University, or just because they have decided to do it when they’re 14-year-old. 

I’m okay with that, as long as it’s “a good song”.

Let's get into your car.

Out of the wish that hope songs should be timeless and classic, Nobuki had decide their works should beyond the band itself. The song should be as “a good song” when it’s played by anyone. Perhaps that’s why each song of DYGL are so approachable, like high school friend rehearsing the list will be played at Saturday night. DYGL had issued their debut at 《Say Goodbye To Memory Den》^[4]at 2017, second album《Songs of Innocence & Experience》^[5]came out at July, 2019. Despite the energetic and cardiac dynamic that had flourished in first album, DYGL become  mature and experienced. Like boys suddenly grown up in a doo wop tune, you can taste the contradiction in that. 

《Songs of Innocence & Experience》^[6]transformed into an aircraft, verge on life and death; joy and sadness; innocence and experience. With the ode of introspection exploration, DYGL had deflected themself into ambiguous scorching flame.

Drumbeats tickling the hair reflecting orange-light. Nobuki’s voice walked down with baseline, push people off just to sit next beside you. Thrown in guitar rhythms flashing like neon light, vibes of youth briterness moved your heart in mono. DYGL is not kind of band will drag you out from the bad situation. They’re flesh and blood that will blend into your body, make you get through daily battles. 

Let them get into your car; let them get into your heart; let them become birthmark on back of your right hand; let them lean on you back, let them wasting your time, dancing into the night and parting with sleeping

Then, you saw flaming sunset spread like marmalade. 

Recommend: 

DYGL-An Ordinary Love

(Tender as star's whispering. Bridge is the highlight of this song)

DYGL-Hard To Love

(Sounds like we've comeback to 2016)

(You'll know the view of DYGL how they look about current society and politics)

DYGL-Waste of Time

(On the show in 2016, it was the first I heard this song which happened to be Kachi's birthday)

DYGL-Come Together

(Had introduced in Don't Play It On Monday)

DYGL-I'm Waiting For You

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Reference:

[1] Songs in EP#1: All the Time, I’m Waiting for You, Just Say It Tonight and Let’s Get Into Your Car。
[2] 《Hats Off To The Buskers》of The View inspired Nobuki, let him want to take music as his life career.
[3] “You’re Welcome” in Spanish. 
[4] Debut album《Say Goodbye To Memory Den》produced by Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes). Band and Albert completed recording and mixing of 14 songs within 9 days.
[5] Rory Attwell is the producer of 《Songs of Innocence & Experience》. DYGL did live recording of full album, while 《Bad Kicks》was recorded separately. 
[6] Album name refer to William Blakes’s poetry. After recording of second album, Nobuki read the poetry again and found lots of concept mentioned in poetry are same as the work.

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