“Tegomass no Seishun” is Tegomass’s 4th full length album and also their first album in 2 years and 3 months. The Title of the album basically translates to “Tegomass’s Youth” or “Tegomass’s Adolescence”. This album includes songs produced for them by “The Godspellers” and “DEPAPEPE”. This Album also is the lead in for their tour that started in February, going through the end of this Month, with the same title, “Tegomass no Seishun”.

 

Album Editions

Limited Edition: CD + DVD

 

The Limited edition comes with the 12 songs of the album and a 40 minute DVD of the Music Video and Music Video Making of「ヒカリ」”Hikari” . It also comes with a 28 Page Booklet, which includes the lyrics of the songs and photos.

Regular Edition: CD

The Regular edition comes with the regular 12 songs, plus 2 bonus songs. One of these bonus songs was written by Tegomass themselves called 「月の友達」- “Moon Friend”. It also comes with a 16 page booklet that includes the lyrics and some photos as well.

The Songs

The theme of this album is “Youth” so all the songs for the most part have to do with being youthful, the pains of youth and the joys of youth.

「蒼色ジュブナイル」- “Inexperienced Juvenile”

This song is an upbeat song that kicks of the album very nicely! Tegomass is always good about organizing the songs of their album in a good order. I think this song was a great pick for the first song of the album because it has very Tegomass like sound to the song, which shows off their vocals and harmony and is upbeat, but still has a soft easy-listening quality about it. They also kicked off the tour with this song as well! Its a song about looking back on your youthful days. This is one of my top 5 songs on this album!

「ハルメキ」- “Become like Spring”

This song is another upbeat song about the coming of spring, just like what the song title implies! When I first heard this song, I had a feeling that this would be one of the last songs in the concert because it was an upbeat song that Tegomass tends to end their concerts with before the encore, and they did!  This is also one of my top 5 songs on the album.

「いつかの街」- “Town of Someday”

This next song slows down the pace of the album and really shows off Tegomass’s vocals and harmony.  I can just sit back and listen to this song with my eyes closed and even though This is more of a sad song that is about not seeing your dream anymore and wandering aimlessly not sure what to do, I feel calmed and reassured somehow.  Everyone has had this feeling the past, or may be going through this as well, thus included in the “youth” theme of the album.

「DONUTS」

 The Godspellers wrote this song for Tegomass and it has this old “do-wap” feeling that I love! This also happens to be Massu’s favorite song on the album and his reason for it being that he feels that the Godspellers really knew Tegomass’s style and harmony well and made an amazing song! The funny part of this song is that DONUTS means Vinyl records, not literal donuts. When I was listening to the lyrics at first I was confused until I saw somebody comment it was vinyl records and not real donuts because the lyrics say “I found a black donut in the back of my closet”. This is my favorite song on this album that isn’t a single, the reason being because of that old style music feel and the harmonies in it. The lyrics are also really sweet too!

「ファンタジア」- “Fantasia”

The first thought I had about this song is that I really like the Piano in it. It has a good rhythm that changes a bit with the chorus and I like the build up from the verse into the chorus and then slowing back into the verse again, then ending slowly like the song began. It has a good flow to the song as well! This particular song is a sad love song and I think it fits with the rhythm of the song. This isn’t one of my top picks of this album, but I really like this song when it was performed live!

「タイムマシン」- “Time Machine”

The first time I heard Time Machine I was immediately attached to it. I think the Melody of the song and the instruments are what really attract me to it, as well as the lyrics. This is the one song that I love to play over and over and even though its a sad love song about regrets and not being able to turn back time. It calms me because of the melody and the amazing vocals and harmony. Zopp-san, who writes a lot of songs for Tegomass and NEWS, wrote this song and even replied back to me when I said that I really liked his songs he wrote for the album!

He said that ”the lyrics were about a Journey, if you can understand that he would be relieved!” This song really was a journey and I loved it, thus making it my favorite song on the album!

「サヨナラにさよなら」- “Goodbye to Goodbye”

I did a review about this single already that you can find HERE. I really enjoy this single a lot and it is my favorite single that is on this album!

「少年～Re:Story～」- “Young Person Re. Story~!”

The main point that I like about this song is the light, rock-like rhythm of the song and the Guitar. Its light and airy and gives of a very vibrant aura.  This is a song about having a dream as a kid, loosing it, but then finding it again and the resolve to keep continuing. The 「もう一回、もう一回」”One more Time, One more time” That is repeated again and again in the song is very encouraging to me and also fits with the theme and the rhythm of the song.

「innocence」

Tegomass always has one “harder rock” song on their album and this was it! I also like the guitars in this song as well and how the rhythm changes from the chorus to the verse.  The rhythm of the song is also very catchy and easy to remember and I tend to hum this song sometimes! I wasn’t attracted to it initially, but after I went to the concert I really enjoyed it a lot and I listen to it a lot more than I used to.

「猫中毒」- “Cat Obsession”

I also did a review on this single, so if you would like to know my thoughts on this song go ahead and click HERE. It is very fun song and very Tegomass like!

「色鮮やかな君が描く明日の絵」- “The Colorful Picture of Tomorrow that you Draw”

What immediately struck me was all the different sounds in this song.  Guitar, Organ/ Keyboard, and also the changing tempos in the song as well. The lyrics are very cute with talking about “Black Magic” and “Yellow dreams”, really conveying the title of the song. It is a very cute and light, upbeat song!

「ヒカリ」- “Light”

This is the main song for this album that Tegomass decided to make this the PV for this time around. This song is a ballad and is very easy listening, but it builds up at the end of the song then slows back down again. The lyrics are very powerful, saying to treasure each day because the same day won’t come back again. I needed to hear this type of song at this point in my life because I am always looking 100 steps in front of me, so it reminds me to just take one day at a time and I don’t have to plan so much. Just enjoy the present more  because you won’t get this day back ever again. I love how Tegomass songs have such amazing meaning!

「きれいごと」- “Beautiful Words”

This is a beautiful song. The guitar is so soft and the vocals are so gentle that I also fell in love with this song as well, the first time I heard it. I really just want to go to bed after listening to this song because it is so soothing and comforting. I normally don’t like ballads, but Tegomass’s vocals really pull me in and make me love their ballads. Besides “Time Machine”,  this song is my next favorite ballad on this album.

「月の友達」- “Moon Friend”

This is the song that Tegomass wrote for this album. On their radio show they held a survey of what type of song they should write and the results came back as an upbeat song. From that, Massu wrote the lyrics and Tegoshi wrote the music with their band director for the Tegomassu tours and it turned out to be a fun upbeat song with strange lyrics about shooting for your dreams! I really like the reoccurring “ooooh yea, ooooh ooooh yea” in the song! Its catchy and I find myself humming this song a lot recently because it makes me motivated and gets my blood pumping when I am waking someplace.

Final Thoughts

Tegomass are now 26 and 27 years old, so they have graduated into their late 20’s, which calls for a more mature album. In the last album that they released, 「テゴマスのまほう」- “Tegomass’s Magic”, they were 24 and 25 years old, so you can tell the difference between the feel of the album right away. They still keep many Tegomass elements, with the sounds of the songs and the style, but you can tell that they bridged the gap from early 20’s into late 20’s. I think this time they chose the theme youth to look back on their youth and bridge the gap from being the “cute duo” to being experienced musicians. . The vocals in this album have improved over all, in my opinion, compared to the last album. All in all, Tegomass was able to  keep the sound that they are known for, but also make it more mature. When I think of Tegomass now I don’t think of them as idols, but I think of them as performers and musicians. This was an amazing album and I hope now that people can look at Tegomass as musicians rather than just Idols from Johnny’s.

 

*DISCLAIMER* I am still learning Japanese and these translations of these song titles,  Japanese content, or any other translations from Japanese aren’t perfect. Please bring to my attention if you think I have any errors.