Colorful Mannings is the solo project of Yuichiro Kosen, a Tokyo-based producer/songwriter who is best known as the member of hip-hop/rock group The Beatmoss, whose second single “Superstar” saw considerable popularity and used in an Adidas campaign. Under his Colorful Mannings alias, which is separate from his work with The Beatmoss, Kosen has already scored for various film, animation, and dramas (Koikarassa (2013), Happy Landing (2014), MOSO Girlfriend (2015), Neko Neko Nihonsi (2016)). His approach reminds me of Caribou’s Dan Snaith, who enjoys creating wildly infectious and colorful synth-pop hybrids with dazzling female guest vocal performances.
Colorful Mannings has a bunch of great material on the horizon, though current release “Sarah” is what’s now — and it’s exceptional. Washes of synth stabs and arp fragments nicely accompany Kosen’s nonchalant vocals during the verses, uplifted wonderfully in the effervescent hook, where Kosen and guest vocalist Sophia Girma combine for harmonic cohesion. Somewhere a cross between the style of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Caribou, “Sarah” is a fantastic introduction to Colorful Meanings, a synth-pop project with heaps of potential.
