SLOTHREAT released its digital single Asymmetrical Harmony on November 27 consisting of the songs Harmonize, and Rebels. Not only that, but the band also followed through with not one, but two distinguishable music videos for each song.
The band’s intention with single Asymmetrical Harmony was to create something that allows you to clearly feel the essence of the “coexistence of inconsistency” in its music, hence the title of the single.
What does this all mean though? Let’s dig deeper into both songs and their respective music videos.
Harmonize
The first music video was for the happy-go-lucky digital single, Harmonize, pre-released on October 31 and marked SLOTHREAT’s first animated music video. This was created by vocalist and animator “E♭” of “NEW CATCHBALLS.” and focuses on a wolf as its central character with the theme being “loneliness”.
The wolf runs relentlessly from place to place, seemingly trying to go beyond the bounds of earth’s gravity to head towards the vast expanse of space. Despite the song’s theme being centered around loneliness, the song’s jumpy, lively, and energetic energy tells us something different.
Rebels
The music video for the second track Rebels was produced by photographer and music video director Jun Tsuneda. He was also involved in the creation of their artist photo.
SLOTHREAT took help from director Jun Tsuneda for its artist photo.
Rebels is a performance-focused music video materialized through trippy and eerie visuals. What stands out is the intense, dark, and mysterious soundscape that, according to drummer Shinya, is said to be completely opposite to the theme of Harmonize.
The Japanese music website Gekirock also describes vocalist KAZ’s vocals as “relaxed”, and mentions how the inconsistent, modern, and heavy instrumentals bring together a sense of harmony to their performance.
Finding harmony between “Harmonize” and “Rebels”
Track Harmony is undoubtedly livelier than Rebels; with its bouncy rhythm, it will make you want to jump up and down despite its theme of loneliness.
Meanwhile, track Rebels is hard-hitting and grips you by the chest. SLOTHREAT shares a message at the end of the music video which leaves us much to think about, stating: “We already know the heart of ourselves. Let’s show our existence. Now is the time”.
Despite the difference in the direction of these songs, there is a sense of shared hope and a glimmer of optimism, keeping both songs in harmony with each other, allowing them both to coexist.
We’d like to also put a spotlight on Asymmetrical Harmony‘s cover art design which was created by designer Kyogu. It serves as a continuation for the artwork found on the digital version of the single Harmonize.
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- Cover artwork for digital single “Harmonize”
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- Cover artwork for single “Asymmetrical Hamony”
By comparing the two singles side-by-side, you can see the Harmonize cover has the faint silhouette of a naked woman with what seems like raindrops all over her body. Then with the cover of Asymmetrical Harmony, the silhouette is more visible, revealing scaly legs, cogs on her head, and a splash of a raindrop used as a crown.
And when inverting the colors of the cover arts, we get a much better idea of what the subject looks like.
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- Inverting the colors of single “Harmonize”.
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- Inverting the colors of single “Asymmetrical Hamony”.
Asymmetrical Harmony was released on November 27, so grab a copy today if you haven’t already!
- Asymmetrical Harmony
- Rebels
- Asymmetrical Harmony (Instrumental)
- Rebels (Instrumental)
- Harmonize