Cicada samples fading into a gentle piano figure, and you can practically feel the humidity. Summer Pockets' main OST from Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito, Donmaru, and the Key composer lineup is three discs of island summer distilled into sound.
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"Golden Hours" glows with this acoustic warmth that makes you nostalgic for a vacation you never took, while "Doing Homework on August 32nd" sneaks in melancholy underneath its playful title. "White Loneliness" strips everything back to piano and silence.
The vocal tracks "Alka Tale" and "Lasting Moment" anchor the emotional peaks without going overboard. Key's signature trick of making you cry with major-key melodies is fully operational here. Required listening if you've ever stared at a sunset and felt time running out.