Hiroki Tanaka may be new to you, but it doesn’t take long to realise he’s operating on a slightly different wavelength. Even with roots in the experimental world of YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN, this solo project feels less like a continuation and more like a widening of scope. He pulls from everywhere at once: Japanese musical traditions, theatrical rock instincts, pop detail, and something more abstract that resists definition. It’s not cleanly defined, and that looseness works in his favour. You’re not quite sure what he’s going to do next, which makes it very easy to lean in.
That curiosity pays off quickly with “Yamato”*. Unease is the name of the game here, but it’s not all atmosphere and no payoff. There are proper hooks running through it, sharp and memorable, with just enough pop weight to keep you locked in. The tension never fully drops, but it doesn’t need to. Tanaka balances that restless energy with melody in a way that keeps the track moving rather than circling itself. It’s a tricky line to walk, but he makes it feel natural.
The video is where that unease really finds its footing. We open on Tanaka moving through a town in a distinctive, slightly uncanny mask, immediately setting a tone that leans more dystopian than narrative. It isn’t telling a clear story. It’s building a feeling. What follows plays out less like a linear plot and more like a sequence of vignettes, each one adding a little more weight to whatever is unfolding.
Early on, he passes a mask to another figure, who falls into step beside him, and from there the idea starts to build. People are pulled from their routines, most clearly when one figure is lifted straight out of an office setting and folded into the movement. It’s not a crowd, it’s something more controlled than that, but the effect is the same. One becomes two, two becomes three, and suddenly you’re watching something that’s spreading.
Crucially, you never quite understand why. Where are they going? Why the mask? The video doesn’t offer answers, and it’s better for it. That sense of not quite knowing is what makes it so compelling. You’re not trying to decode it, you’re just trying to keep up, and that pull to see what happens next does most of the work.
Later on, those video game-like sequences start to creep in. The three masked figures appear crisp in frame against stripped-back, almost 8-bit backdrops, with flashes of colour that feel slightly out of step with everything else. It’s a small shift, but an effective one. What started as something vaguely dystopian now hints at an alternative layer entirely, like they’re stepping into something parallel rather than simply moving through the same world.
The ending leans into that ambiguity. Tanaka collapses, abruptly halting the forward motion, before a final sequence leaves the three masked figures walking on. No resolution, no explanation, just continuation, which fits everything that came before.
Digging into the recent album ‘Isan’, is it clear that “Yamato”* is only one side of the picture. The record moves across styles pretty freely, and it doesn’t take long to find contrast. “Unbinding”*, which follows on the tracklist but was a prior single, flips things entirely. Falsetto vocals, a butter-smooth bassline, and a much softer touch overall carry it for most of the song, until it decides to go full guitar hero at the end.
Tanaka has described it in fairly wild terms, gothic nu-metal-Pop-RnB inspired by The Binding of Isaac, which might raise an eyebrow, but somehow it makes sense. And that closing solo? Full “I’m Slash in November Rain” energy, completely unapologetic, and honestly, I love it.
That range matters. It makes “Yamato”* feel like a deliberate spike rather than the whole identity of the record. The rest of the album leans more towards subtlety, but clearly the urge to let rip is still there, and when you can play like that, it would be a waste not to.
As an introduction, this does exactly what it needs to. The song hooks you, the video keeps you guessing, and together they position Hiroki Tanaka as an artist worth your time, even if he’s not about to make things easy.
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