KANAI YUKO – Ecran
(1) vocal-only intro – hmmmm. No clue from the first 1 minute. Actually – kind-of Tales from Topographic Oceans. K 8/10 HNT 10/13 MV 4/5. Let’s see what happens….yay! (2) Parody Rock ‘n’ Roll, which means it may be the best kind of R&R as that’s easily my least favourite element of any C.P…..but then it segues into pastiched C.P MV 0/5 HNT 2/13 K 9/10. With bits of ‘happy Talk’ and Broadway crap. (3) This one I can’t get a handle on at all– what we’ve come to know as 90’s anime song but about 15 years too early. MV 0/5 K 8/10 HNT 9/13. What sticks out the most is how naive it sounds and how sweet. Not unskilled but untutored. Wait…it’s ‘Save All Your Kisses For me’. And The Kinks. (4) Right! This does Furiru and Akina HR Gtr in the intro and then ditches it and goes almost post-punk. This is great. MV 1/5 K 6/10 HNT 9/13 But not in the least bit like any city pop album you’ve heard. (5) This starts with something that sounds like it should be a reference, OK, maybe it’s ‘Moonlight Shadow’. With Byrds guitar. HNT 11/13 K 8/10 MV 0/5. This album just won’t stop coming up with ways of surprising me. Organ solo, y’know….the verse wouldn’t be out of place in a Heavenly song. (6) Lyrical bass matched nicely with the guitar: a bit like some of the ye ye bits of Shibuya-kei. Is Konishi involved with this somehow? MV 0/5 HNT 10/13 K 6/10 (7) Another odd-one – closest we’ve come so far to proper city pop but even that’s not right. The whole album is full of odd references and influences I can’t even begin to place. HNT 2/13 K 3/10 MV 0/5 (8) Something else here, fragile vocals, modest instrumentation, nice solo – a bit of ‘Calling Gloria’ MV 3/5 HNT 7/13 K 1.5 (9) First arpeggios in a while – Aah! Bisto! HNT 10/13 K 4/5 MV 3/5. What a great, great album it is, too….