Asobi-Seksu- Live at Olympia Studios
Release date: 16.11.09
Label: One Little Indian
NY based dream-pop merchants dust off some of their back catalogue for this acoustic based, revisionist album recorded at legendary London studios.
In the sparsity of the arrangements; Yuki Chikudate’s delicate vocals lead over acoustic guitars, toy pianos, and glockenspiels. Opener ‘Breathe Into Glass’ begins with Cocteau Twins esque dual-vocal lines and magical, escapist imagery of flickering fires, aligning stars and feelings of child-like apprehension.
‘Walk on the Moon’ is a gentle, meandering diversion, but the highlights come later on in the album with the fuller-sounding ‘New Years’and the Pizzicato 5 / St Etienne 60s infused pop of ‘Urusai Tori’. One of the stand out tracks is a twinkly rendition of Hope Sandoval’s ‘Suzanne’. It’s also on ‘Suzanne’ where the dual vocals of Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna come together.
The production is crisp, and there is a purity in the sound which is might be a little too clean for those who are acquainted with their more shoegaze tendancies and bigger, louder soundscapes. However, the Chikudate/Hanna interplay is more present as the album progresses ‘Gliss’ is dynamic and eerie all at once and is deserving of repeat listens while gazing from the windows of moving vehicles.
Closing track ‘Thursday’ is a perfect lullaby with which to finish. Olympia Studios (or Asobi Seksu’s acoustic day off as I am choosing to call it) might not be the boldest thing they have ever done, but there again: I don’t think that was really the point. All in all, pretty darned lovely stuff for a band that were once called Sportfuck.