Asobi Seksu
Shoegaze / Pop
" What was once called shoegazer rock — blaring, shimmering, multilayered guitars enfolding confessions of longing and ambiguity — is back in Asobi Seksu, a New York band that wraps its guitars and keyboard around well-made pop melodies and the girlish ache of Yuki's voices."
-Jon Pareles, New York Times, March 5, 2004
Asobi Seksu, like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine before them, are evolving and redefining what noise means within the model of pop songwriting. The band melds lush yet wonderfully crushing waves of white noise in variation with synth-driven pop delicacies and tight lounge progressions ala Stereolab. The quartet’s melting-pot aesthetics also include narratives sung in combinations of English and Japanese.
Characterized by her clever lyrical sensibilities, Yuki’s energetic lamentations on the song “I’m Happy But You Don’t Like Me”, define Asobi Seksu’s persona in the self-titled LP. James orchestrates the often sonically furious multi-dimensional rhythm section and provides beautiful supporting vocal harmonies.
Mainstays at New York City’s premiere venues, Asobi Seksu are a formidable live act. Perfectly executing both the rhythmic precision and saturated ethereal melodies of their first studio effort, the band delivers a riotously brilliant performance, subject to poignant moments of melancholia and unexpected euphonic implosions.
|