A couple years ago, I had purchased the first Asobi Seksu album on the strength of some of the descriptions; shoegazer, swirling guitars, ethereal female vocals, lyrics sung sometimes in Japanese. You get the idea, and I'm a sucker for that stuff. Well, the album had it's moments and it showed promise, but, to me, a lot of it sounded either unfinished or underdeveloped.
Last spring, I saw an ad for a new AS album ("Citrus") but I didn't think much of it. About a week before it's release (at the end of May), I happened to click on a myspace link where I could preview a couple of their new songs, "New Years" and "Thursday". Stunning. I eventually picked up a copy of the album and I feel that I can say it's consistently great from start to finish. The production is better, the songs are better, the whole thing is a huge step forward, and I can't stop listening to this album. Seriously, if you're into the whole swirly guitar dream pop thing, click the links and listen, then do yourself a favor and get it. Also, they have the coolest gig posters (scroll to the bottom).
Listen:Goodbye
Red Sea
5 comments:
Hmmm.... Not really my thing. Nicely produced pop though I'll grant you that.
Aw man, I could listen to stuff like this til I end. ^^
But that's because you're a cheese-master! We wouldn't change your strange ways though, we really wouldn't. :-)
I'm interested in picking up the first album, too! Is it underproduced? Do the guitars swallow her vocals?
Yeah, that first album, I dunno. Sounds like they didn't have the songs completely done or maybe they didn't have enough budget for studio time. It's got a couple moments, but it's really not very good at all.
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