4 out of 5

Label: Avex Trax

Produced by: Various

A standout single, even with some context that could taint that – it’s a cover! It’s Seiko fronting another band! – and only a little unbalanced across its three tracks.

Opener and title track draw(A)drow is an arresting fury of slam bang speedy math guitars, punked out drums, and Seiko’s shouts. It’s the singer at her most amped up, with the heaviest elements of her style compressed into a 4-minute blast. …Perhaps because this is Oomori chanting atop something produced by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure, a band which sounds very, very much like the music we’re getting here. Like, to the extent that you could call it a Ling Tosite Sigure track with guest vocals. Except I don’t think you can call it that, since Seiko syncs to it quite exactly, and brings a whole different dynamic to things than TK would. It’s also lacking in some of the more emo-y breakdowns of that group – it is on throughout. I love it.

This is quite perfectly juxtaposed by followup Watashimi (わたしみ), which is of the singer’s most delicate stylings, away from the electronica and rock influences of her latter elements, but with stronger vocals than she’d use on the tweaked frailty of her debuts. It’s a strong mixture of confidence and quiet, and gets a lot of power out of its minimalism as compared to draw(A)drow.

Closer “Silent Majority” (サイレントマジョリティー) is the only softball. Not because it’s a bad track, per se, but it sort of tonally matches Watashimi, while also lacking that track’s Seiko-y flourishes. This could be due to the song being a cover, but Oomori has revamped plenty of idol tracks, and I just don’t get that type of energy from this one. It’s pretty, but would probably work better on a full album; as a closer to two incredibly strong tracks, it falls behind.