For dedicated film buffs the title ‘Kids Return,’ just might not be an unknown quantity. It is the name of a cult film by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano.
That is exactly the name and inspiration the French duo of Adrien Rozé and Clément Savoye used for their musical vehicle, which was not only initially inspired by the theme of Kitano’s film but also by its music composed by the renowned Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi.
Yet, on their latest album Forever Melodies, they go beyond Hisaishi and put out pop/rock setting soundtrack music by such greats as Francis Lai, Michel Legrand, Vladimir Cosma, or Ennio Morricone.
By their own account, everything Kids Return create is guided by emotion. “The movie was our emotional milestone: sensitivity, naivety, melancholy.”
And melancholy is almost always connected to reminiscing, remembering those moments that mean so much, and soundtrack music very often tries to appeal to those human senses.
Rozé and Savoye definitely plugin into those senses, but are quite subtle in that approach, trying to make a good balance, without, so to say, trying to add too much sugar into their musical coffee.
Luckily for them (and the listeners), they are quite successful at that.
