Japanese group T-Square, whose founder member Masahiro Andoh created the iconic Gran Turismo track “Moon Over The Castle“, has been selected to provide the title track for the Japanese-language dub version of the Gran Turismo movie.
The track, “Climax”, is part of the group’s upcoming “Vento de Felicidade” (Shiawase no Kaze/Wind of Happiness) album which is set for release on Wednesday May 31 to celebrate the 45th anniversary of its 1978 public debut.
T-Square has had several members over the years, since it was first founded as “The Square” by Andoh — the composer of Moon Over the Castle — at Meiji University alongside Shunichi Harada, Jun Hakamazuka, and Yuhji Nakamura.
Andoh wrote Moon Over the Castle in 1996 while part of T-Square, and performed it on his solo album, Andy’s, that year. T-Square — including Andoh — also performed an arrangement known as Knight’s Song for the 1997 album Blue in Red, notable for group saxophonist Masato Honda playing the EWI:
Outside of Gran Turismo, T-Square is particularly famous for providing the theme tune to Japan’s Formula One Grand Prix coverage, Truth.
The group’s composition has been pretty varied over the years. It currently consists of drummer Satoshi Bandoh, who joined the group in 2004, and wind instrumentalist Takeshi Itoh who was a member from 1977 through to 1991 and rejoined in 2000. Founder member Andoh briefly left in 2000, but officially departed in 2021.
While it will provide an interesting musical connection between the game and movie, Climax has only been selected as the theme for the Japanese-language dubbed version of the Gran Turismo film, which is scheduled for release in September, after the US/UK releases on August 11.
We’re yet to hear who’ll be providing the theme for other versions of the movie, although we’re now hoping it’ll be The Chemical Brothers or the Manic Street Preachers…
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