I've been a big fan of this group ever since hearing their second album, Citrus, back in late 2006. They're a 4 piece band with two permanent members, Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna. The first two albums were definitely pure shoegazer. It had the crunching heavy guitars, the long solos and Cocteau Twins-esque vocals. What separated them from their peers though was that they made sure not to get pigeon-holed into the nu-metal scene, which could have happened considering how raw and powerful the guitars were and also they genuinely had great pop tunes. Yuki's voice works so well as a counter to the other instruments employed.
There is an interesting juxtaposition of what is definitely a Western band but with an Oriental lead singer. In Yuki's case she is Japanese. It's a pleasant quirk of pop that 2 other bands that I like a lot have a similar setup; Dengue Fever and Little Dragon although Dengue Fever draw heavily on the Cambodian roots of its female lead singer. They release a new album later this year. It will most certainly feature on this blog.
Enough about them, back to Asobi Seksu. They had a very successful tour on the back of their third album, Hush. This was partly funded by donations from fans who are very loyal to this band. In return, its clear that Asobi Seksu take their fanbase very seriously. There are regular updates, competitions, photos and emails about what they are up to. I like that. If they do manage to break the big time (as they deserve to) then it will be because they've gone about things the right way. A strong work ethic and looking after and developing their fanbase.
The third album, Hush, marked a seismic shift in the sound developing within the band. Yuki's voice became the predominant act and the guitars became more jangly. In short, they moved towards dream pop. They've been drip feeding fans excerpts from the new album, Fluorescence, next month but if the track "Trails" is anything to go by then it sounds like there's a drift back towards grinding those guitars but the tunes are as melodic as the third album with maybe a Phil Spector wall of sound 'bigness' to the production.
...and here are two official remixes of the same song. The first by Holy Other - yet another Gothenburg born musician. So much talent from that city.
Albums that I've been listening to today: Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst, Death in Vegas - The Contino Sessions, Boom Bip - Corymb, Best Coast - Crazy for You, Mount Kimbie - Crooks and Lovers
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