hauntography ч

(1) Momoko, we have EXPECTATIONS….and we are not disappointed. MV 4/5 K 8/10 HNT 11/13. It’s been a while since we had brass-stabs and AOR choruses and it’s a thing of beauty. Absolutely lovely. (2) Slower and smaller, but equally charming. BV’s here. This album is called ‘Ocean Side’ and it’s perfectly named, a lovely daylight set so far. MV 3/5 HNT 9/13 K 8/10. The atmosphere – again – is Furil and not a trace of Akina. (3) The early evening one. Proper CP keyboards, vaguely Latin percussion and lounge piano. HNT 10/9 MV 3/5 K 9/10. Don’t touch me! goes the chorus, but it’s such a delightfully

tactile

song. Can’t help it. Don’t blame me. Don’t kiss me. Would You? (4) WOW. How much more definitively C.P. can you get? HNT 12/13 MV 3/5 K 9/10. This has the cadence from ‘Kita Wing’ and ‘Abracadabra’ in it. Just perfect. (5) The slow one. OK. Not actually bad as Slow Ones go. MV 3/5 K 8/10 HNT 7/10. (6) Hmm….two slow ones in a row? NO! Fooled You!! Ha ha! Great stuff, Momoko. It’s mid-paced for sure, but the swell to the stringsy chorus is great and the whole atmosphere gets HNT 11/13 MV 3/5 K 8/10. I should listen to this Back-to-back with Toyama Hitomi and compare and contrast. (7) The throwaway one. By no means bad, just not one of the more memorable tunes around here. (8) The epic slow one, which almost gets me over my dislike of slow ones. HNT 8/13 MV 1/5 K 8/10. So! Momoko!! What is it about you?? Apart from being the living example of ‘what you think City Pop should be like’. Simultaneously cute and mature, gravitational and fluffy, it’s hard to come up with original commentary on an album that just is mostly, almost, everything you want it to be. The slow ones are the not-best parts but you can’t have everything….