Music Review // Format Wars "Gakuraya"

This song begins quietly, with an ambient drone feel and it just seems like we're floating through space as it is such a calm atmosphere.   Notes begin to slowly come in, as if we are in a lull, but then the percussion joins in and it seems as if we've found ourselves in a jazz number.   There are these keys which come through with emotional synths and it gives me the impression of a genre I'd like to call electronic jazz even though that's probably taken by elevator music and this is far from that.

As the guitar notes come through you can tell this is blissed out.  The rock can feel like a -gaze and it has that dreamy way about it.  If it was a little bit more on the synth it could be synthwave and if it had just a little bit more of some unknown factor it could be jazz.   Somehow though throughout the entire song I'm still reminded of how it started and I still feel like I'm floating in space which gives it that ambient electronic vibe.   Those are three distinct sounds to blend together and Format Wars just make it work.

Whenever I listen to instrumental music I always like to think about what combination of vocals I could add to it which would help me describe the sound.  On some level, I like to think of "Gakuraya" as resembling The Cure, though it is not 100% there.   There are other elements which give it a different sound overall, so it would be more like "The Cure meets..." something which I do not know.   But there is not one specific artist I can compare with Format Wars- instrumental or not- and I do enjoy that about this song.

When I see the name Format Wars I think about how some people think records are the best way to listen to music and I prefer cassettes, that sort of thing.   But when I listen to this song I think of the name being more about the style of music.   You have this distinct style in one way and then it comes together with another and even a third, which just somehow is able to blend together so easily though it might appear without hearing it that the three would work against each other.  

Format Wars on Spotify ::: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6KF5PcuURn2zKV0RASUPEi?si=1Pz12OD7SVe-BcNYmbp3TA

Format Wars on Bandcamp ::: https://formatwars.bandcamp.com/