''Take Off'' is the first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

band Folks, independently released on March 29, 2013. It was the band's first release, and their only self-issued album before their major label debut under

Ki/oon Music is a Japanese record label, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Artists Their artists include L'Arc-en-Ciel, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Home Made Kazoku, Puffy AmiYumi, Polysics, Supercar, Pushim, Chatmonchy, Denki Groove, Tomoe ...

in 2014.

Background and development

Folks first formed in 2013 when former

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

members Fumito Iwai and Kazumasa Noguchi moved back to their birthplace of Hokkaido to start a band, and officially became a unit in January 2013. Iwai and Noguchi asked former Guild member Yoshitomo Kobayashi to join their band, and they moved to

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

, renting a house with Iwai's older brother Katsutoshi Iwai and his friend Masatsugu Takahashi, who also had a separate band. All five people practised music in their own rooms, but because Katsutoshi Iwai's room was a Japanese style room, the other band members could hear him through the thin

shōji A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaque ''fusuma'' is used (oshiire/ ...

walls. In late 2013, Fumito Iwai heard his brother creating the song "River," and liked it so much he asked to arrange the song. All the house-mates loved the completed song, and decided to merge their two bands to create Folks.

Writing and production

''Take Off'' was recorded from Summer 2012, when Folks was a three-member unit, until March 2013. The majority of the extended play features songs written by Fumito Iwai and featuring vocals by him, except the song "River," which was written and sung by Katsutoshi Iwai. Fumito Iwai mixed, arranged and produced ''Take Off'' by himself. The band based themselves at their parents' houses in

Eniwa, Hokkaido is a city in Ishikari Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is on the Ishikari plain, 8 km north of Chitose, and 26 km south of the prefectural capital Sapporo. It is reached through route 36 and the Chitose Railway Line. The town is s ...

, and recorded songs in Fumito Iwai's bedroom in Megumino. Iwai felt that ''Take Off'' was influenced by

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

, and other English indie rock musicians such as James Blake and

Bombay Bicycle Club Bombay Bicycle Club are an English indie rock band from Crouch End, London, consisting of Jack Steadman, Jamie MacColl, Suren de Saram, and Ed Nash. They are guitar-fronted and have experimented with different genres, including folk, electron ...

. he felt the lyrics were influenced by Galileo Galilei vocalist Yūki Ozaki's lyrical style, and by Galileo Galilei's music in general. For the July 2013 iTunes release of the album, ''Take Off'' was remastered by

Yoshinori Sunahara is a Japanese record producer and DJ from Sapporo, Hokkaido. He is a former member of Denki Groove. He was also a member of Metafive. Discography Studio albums * ''Crossover'' (1995) * '' Take Off and Landing'' (1998) * '' The Sound of '70s' ...

. All songs, except the intro "Take Off" were later used for their major label debut extended play '' Newtown'' (2014), including the song "Gaga" which was retitled "You're Right."

Promotion and release

The album was first released on March 29, 2013 to download service Vibirth. On April 6, 2013 at Sound Lab Mole in

, Folks held the album release party live, and also sold physical copies of the album there. The physical version was released at Sapporo music store Ongaku Dokoro in July 2013, and later at Hokkaido music chain Gyokkodo on October 8, 2013. The extended play was released globally on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

on July 31, 2013. The band made their first festival performance, at the

Rising Sun Rock Festival Rising Sun Rock Festival is an annual rock festival held in Ishikari, Hokkaido, Japan. The two-day event is organized by WESS. It chiefly features Japanese rock and indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: ...

, on August 17, 2013. They held their first radio interview on local Eniwa radio station E-niwa on August 30, 2013.

Track listing

Release history

References

{{Folks 2013 EPs Indie pop EPs Indie rock EPs Folks (band) albums Japanese-language EPs