Music Corner 41: Kumiko Yanagida
/Kumiko Yanagida broke into the Japanese music scene back in 2002. She decided to go in a different direction from the pop filled, R&B infested genre that took over the Japanese music industry. Yanagida, with her superfluous acoustic guitar skills and vocal range, was one of the handful of revolutionary artists that started to takeover the industry in the mid 00’s of the female lead guitarist/vocalist boom that lead with Yui. A trend that is continued on to this day with that of the likes of Aimyon. Her initial solo works shows off her impressive ranging from mid-tempo composition tracks such as “影おくり” (“Kage Okuri”), “Lemonday”, to emotionally driven tracks that emphasizes on her amazing vocal range such as “あなたと私“ (Anata to Watashi”) “真っ白な日々” (“Masshirona Hibi”).
While she had a small following during her original solo career, Yanagida’s popularity wouldn’t boom till her involvement with the pop rock band The Milky Tangerine in 2009 and their lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist. Having a sweet but sour punch to their sound compositions being involved with the band brought the best out of Yanagida by having her transition into a more bubbly and livelier vocal range with her more emotional vocal style chiming in time to time. “渋谷買物構想曲“ (“Shibuya Kaimono Kousoukyoku”) and “Your Beautiful Mind” are some examples of the dynamic range that she exhibited while being apart the of band. Although not being the forefront, Yanagida had continued with her solo career with several smaller releases, a choice which had proved to be useful with The Milky Tangerine hiatus in 2016. Taking the lessons that she learned during her time with the band, Yanagida had encompassed a more happy-go-lucky fusion style composition. Her track “Summertime Music” is the perfect example to show off her growth that she exhibited throughout her career.
Both solo career venture tracks along with Yanagida’s tracks when she was with The Milky Tangerine are available in all digital streaming platforms. You can follow her on her Official Site and Twitter and check out the music video for her track “Summertime Music” below!
