| On Pop Ooga, Shuta Hasunuma lets loose an endless array of gorgeous and restless rhythms and melodies. Throughout the album he seamlessly folds funky bass and synth lines, graceful guitar, and breathy vocal harmonies into his web of glitch-pop-concrete. The result is intellectually engaging and fervent music, that reminds us of our urgent need to celebrate our time together.
Like the album's artwork, the music evokes its own unique design - neatly cut acoustic edges within a new, visceral, time-lapsed version of reality. On tracks like "Field Trip" and "Soul Osci" samples bounce and swirl along a meticulous trajectory that can only end in a collision of optimism and ecstasy. Other tracks like "Power Osci" and "the Play" capture the constant motion and propulsion of life, always turning, searching, skipping, and longing, yet somehow remaining centered and serene.
It's on the LP's bonus track "Go Pacific" that Hasunuma's impeccable balance between the technological and deeply personal resonates longest. Literally blending bells and whistles into an infectious, breezy dose of melodic sunshine, expect to be caught in an addictive, vinyl trance that will have you eagerly resetting your stylus again and again. |
