Vivid

Three ex-members of the fondly remembered indie group Novelis provided the foundation for Vivid, a five-piece Tokyo visual kei act that stirred intense curiosity well before issuing its first recording—distinct from the short-lived early-2000s band that shared both name and genre. The unit came together in March 2009 and promptly joined the roster of influential Indie PSC, already home to Screw and Sug. Its initial offerings, the singles Take-Off and Dear, both climbed to the upper tier of the Oricon indie rankings. The group’s distinctive “melodic mixture rock” lived up to its moniker by folding pop, rock, punk, metal, rap, and electronica into boisterous, hook-driven tracks delivered at high velocity. Shortly afterward came the mini-album The Vivid Color, which realized the promise of those early releases, registered respectably on the primary Oricon listing, and was celebrated by visual fans as one of the strongest fresh arrivals the movement had seen in some time.

During the opening months of 2010 the band issued two additional singles before declaring its shift to major-label status via Epic Records. Observers were not startled, given PSC’s established role as a pipeline to bigger imprints, yet some voiced concern that the ensemble’s sharp-edged sound might soften into generic fare. The major-label debut single Yume (Mugen no Kanata) (“Dreams [Beyond the Fantasy]”) arrived as a vigorous, guitar-driven piece that appeared to dispel those worries, but the four singles that followed across 2011 and the first half of 2012 gradually tempered the group’s raw qualities while steering its visual presentation toward more standard territory. The full-length Infinity appeared in June 2012, encompassing all five of the preceding major singles. Although measured in approach, the album displayed capable songcraft and performed solidly, reaching the Oricon Top Ten and lingering on the chart for seven weeks.