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| Midori - Shinsekai |
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releases are crucial to a band in the process of making a name for
itself, but Shinsekai (i.e. New World,) Midori's third album for Sony,
isn't just key in terms of the band's commercial prospects. Their last
disc, the 2009 single "Swing," found them at a potentially thrilling
creative fork in the road: while the titular tune was a move towards
more accessible pop, the rest was a very different beast, channelling a
brutal, tribal repetitiveness with adrenalized free jazz and a
strangely fitting arena rock ambition. The question was which of the two extremes would win out, and the answer is…neither. Rather than integrate, Midori have chosen to play them off of each other, alternating between pop that's gotten more traditional and thrash jazz that's gotten more fucked up. Even when these two elements find themselves doing battle within the same song, they've radicalized, with the pop getting sweeter and the mantra-like tantrums getting more abrasive. Midori has mixed the sour and sweet in the past, often blending them evenly to create an uncannily disturbing rumble, but here, they're flung together to create some truly weird sparks. "メカ" ("Mecca") isn't just all over the map, it's specifically built on chaos: crunching hyperactive, diseased tango, Boredoms style flashes of transcendent freakout, feverish repetition, madcap Carl Stalling-esque interludes, and God Knows what else in just under three and a half minutes. It's the strongest track they've done since "わっしょい" ("Wasshoi") from their first EP, and a quantum leap forward in their unique brand of brain smearing musical schizophrenia. As befitting the proceedings, the surreal blurt of "Mecca" is followed by the sweet, if slightly melancholy "スピードビート" ("Speed Beat.") It's simply a good pretty song…there's nothing jagged or startling about it, in and of itself. It's followed by the straight up ballad "春メロ" ("Haru Mellow," i.e. "Spring Mellow,") featuring surprise vocals from keyboardist Hajime. I've heard Midori called a psychotic version of Shéna Ringo's Tokyo Jihen, but until now I never heard it. "鉄塔の上の2人" ("Tettou No Ue No Futari," i.e. "Two People On The Tower") is one of the few tracks that crosses the pop and noise streams, and in doing so takes the Tokyo Jihen comparison further, with vocalist Mariko Goto actually sounding a bit like Ringo when she's indulging in her distorted vocals mode. "Haru Mellow" isn't alone in its unironic sweetness: opening track "鳩" ("Hato," i.e. "Dove") has only vocalist Mariko Goto's slightly off kilter delivery to keep it from being typically sweet Jpop. These aren't the only examples, and it's this smoothing of the edges on the pop end that is likely to be the main point of contention for Midori acolytes. That said, Shinsekai, more than any other album in the band's catalog, demands to be heard whole, in one sitting: without the noise, the pop can seem limp, and without the pop, the aggression can seem pointless. This oil and water approach isn't exactly a flaw, as the two balance each other out beautifully in terms of the album as a piece, but ultimately Shinsekai is a worthy, but transitional effort. "Mecca," along with "Tettou No Ue No Futari" and "さよなら、パーフェクトワールド" (Sayonara, Perfect World," which similarly mixes the two poles to bracing effect,) point to the most intriguing possibilities for the band's future. If Midori finds their way to that sweet spot where opposites merge instead of collide, they'll be unstoppable. As it stands now, Shinsekai finds the four piece sitting tight on the title of The Band Most Likely To. Here's to the future. |