SENPAI III

I listened to this album a few days after its release, while exploring other sounds away from the prog. I was surprised by the way the guitarist manages to develop songs closer to the world of jpop, and turn them into prog pieces, without leading them to excessive virtuosity, as other guitarists of the genre do.

This album was intended as a kind of soundtrack to a novel written by the guitarist himself, inspired by the stories of anime and manga. Therefore, the music tries to express certain situations in which the protagonist finds herself (the titles of the tracks are the same as the chapters of the novel). Sithu Aye with his music, manages to introduce you to the world of anime, with well-worked melodies and harmonies. It is impossible to listen to this album and not think of some anime series from childhood or youth. The pieces mostly have an optimistic character. The production is exquisite and shows us how self-taught the Musician is.

If you are looking for something out of the ordinary in the prog, this is your album. If you like Japanese pop culture and prog, this is your album.

Someone with a greater understanding/appreciation of Japanese anime/manga/culture will be able to do this far more justice than me, but here's a little review anyway. "Senpai" loosely translates as a mentor, teacher, or elder in Japanese, generally related to the transfer of knowledge and wisdom. This is Sithu Aye's third installment of the Senpai series, with two previous shorter EPs.

The music itself is very well mixed, and as you'd expect given the genre would fit very well as a soundtrack - its more of a fusion between J-Rock/Pop styles and prog, than simply progressive metal. Not too familiar with today's Japanese music and anime, although much of my childhood was spent watching Pokemon, and it would certainly fit with that. Sithu Aye has actually written a full novella to go with this album. I will confess to not having read it, and just listening to the album on its own. I very much enjoyed it, and it is the sole reason why I'd be open to listening to more anime soundtracks in future. Hopefully someone who is inclined to will review the album alongside the Novella too.

I'm can't rate this among the 5-star prog elite, but simply because it has opened a door to a slightly different genre of enjoyable music, this is well worth calling an excellent addition to a prog collection.

Count me as one of those people who thinks grown men really should have better and more appropriate things to do with their time than consuming or engaging with anime productions and culture, particularly the kind of anime that deals with teenage girl drama in high school, even IF it is meant to be taken tongue- in-cheek. And yet despite my reservations, Sithu Aye's latest musical foray into this uncomfortable territory demanded my attention. Sithu is an immensely talented musician and producer and, from the looks of it, a pretty relatable person as well. If anime is what really tickles his creative bone, then we must leave the master (get it?) to do his thing.

With all this said, on the less than a handful of occasions I engaged with anime material in my youth that wasn't Pokeman, the one element that stuck out to me in a positive way was, indeed, the music. It was undoubtedly commercial but was invested with a seriousness and sincerity that was not shared by the music produced for say American television. Senpai III definitely captures this by utilizing the same jazzy pop chords and memorable hooks you could expect to hear on some anime credit outro. Of course coupled with Sithu's incomparable guitar chops and you really get a very serious and enjoyable piece of art on this record. There is nothing revolutionary or world changing here but worthwhile nevertheless.

Anime was a mistake. If you're an adult and you dedicate your life to watching anime (these people are called weebs) then you just don't have a life. I'm pretty sure Sithu Aye isn't that type of person but in this album he basically makes anime music. And by that I mean the one you hear in those College-Drama-With-An-Anime-Girl-That-Is-Crying-In-Every-Single-Hour-Of-The-Day animes. It usually features some happy acoustic guitar and MIDI piano along with a silly flute that gets me on my nerves. Exaggeratedly happy, poppy, commercial, un-surprising and filled with ten megatons of cheese, it makes Dream Theater look like the most soulful and thoughtfully-deep band in the world. Not even metal was able to save it. It's just so predictable that I don't even want to listen it again. I had to go listen to Obscura to cleanse my ears from the mozzarella.

Sithu Aye is a great musician. Invent The Universe is a true gem, and the rest of his discography doesn't fall short either. I just don't understand why he did this, I hope there's no Senpai III II. I hate that type of anime theme, so of course I wasn't going to like an entire album inspired by it.