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Japan
| Midori - Swing |
| Last
year was a big one for Midori. Their transition from the indies to the
majors (Sony Japan) has thus far resulted in no fewer than three albums
since late 2007 (well, OK, "Shimizu" is technically an EP, but it's
only a few minutes shy of half an hour.) "Swing" is a four track single
(actually three songs, plus an alternate version of the title track)
that marks their fourth release in sixteen months. It's tempting to
comment on whether or not the relentless pace has caused any cracks to
show....thing is, Midori is all about the cracks, so any frayed nerves
that might seep into the music would fit right in to the group's
particularly demented character. That character has proven to be surprisingly resilient. "Crazy cute girl in a school uniform" might seem like pure shtick, but the band has somehow managed to give it genuine, if occasionally theatrical, gravitas, spiking the predictable (but nonetheless appealing) musical aggression with a more subtle darkness. There are moments in Midori's catalog that blend wounded beauty with a sinister resignation, suggesting that there's a bit more to the disturbed persona of vocalist Mariko Goto than simple theater. If it is all an act, it's an awfully convincing one. Which brings us to "Swing." "Swing" (mostly) pushes the less abrasive elements of the group's sound to the forefront: in different hands, it would be simply pretty. The jazz trio setup (Hajime on keyboards, Yoshitaka Koenzi on drums, and the recently permanent Keigo Iwami on upright bass) creates a lilting yet rumbling cushion that is transformed from pleasant tune to sweetly crushing wave by Goto's stressed delivery. She sounds possessed, warbling around the notes instead of hitting them, like she's trying to swallow a panic attack. Her strained voice comes off as naive, but naive in the sense that she doesn't realize just how out to lunch she sounds, like a little girl singing sweetly as she sets fire to her family's house. Hide the steak knives. The single is available in a special edition that includes the promotional video for "Swing," and like the track that inspired it, its weirdness isn't immediately obvious. It's a fairly simple concept: Goto running barefoot through rural Japan, passing band members as she goes, on her way to some kind of confrontation with a mysterious, if normal looking woman. All best are off, however, when Goto tries to crawl into the woman's womb, leading to a baffling sequence involving dance routines and albino rabbits as Goto calmly "la-las" to herself. Is she just relaxed, or has she finally snapped? We're back to louder, more familiar ground with "あかん!!" ("Akan!!" Apparently, this means either "no way," or "no can do.") And by "more familiar," I mean back to psychotic jazz pop, a warped blend of Louis Prima swivel and early Boredoms spastic energy. Midori's been doing this for years, but it's still frequently breathtaking: limber, powerful jazz executed with a tight verve that would break lesser musicians in half. "朽ちては果てぬ" (roughly "The End Of Decay") is a manic samba, contrasting its muscular rhythm with occasional lapses into serenity, building to an explosive climax. The final track is "Swing" again, with guest guitar from Judy and Mary axeman Takuya, whose unhinged yet tuneful playing makes the song a bit more accessible...in fact, the Takuya version is a bit better, adding a little more heft to the delirium. Midori's output since Iwami's upgrade to full time status points to a direction that befits the band's makeup: "Akan!!" isn't a song so much as a vamp, a loose arrangement of pop song bits used as a launching pad for frenzied musical interactions, like a jazz unit having a particularly quarrelsome improv session. The four tracks on "Swing" indicate a deepening maturity, a natural (if maniacal) expansion that draws out the subtleties of their sound while somehow allowing the showier elements to remain intact and relevant. So far so good: Midori's move to the big leagues hasn't dulled their approach so much as allowed them to take less obvious routes, ones which may not be as loud or visceral, but are much more surreal and deeply disturbing, lacing innocence with a weirdly menacing undertone. If David Lynch ever decides to remake "The Wizard Of Oz," he really should give Midori a call. |