Although my age means that I now unfurl from my bed in instalments each morning and struggle to fathom the difference between YouTube and Tiktok, much to the chagrin of my teenage kids, I do sometimes still manage to surprise myself by suddenly finding myself very occasionally cool.

One such occasion was late last year, when b-flower, A japanese indie-pop band that I am something of a completist saddo about (I am only writing this as Seeds Records have just released a 200 limited edition cassette tape that has just arrived at my door and is as sexy as hell !), decided to release their first full album in 20+ years.

For the uninitiated, the album is so very typically South East Asian in two ways. Initially tracks such as (and please, my Japanese friends, forgive my English translations where necessary) the simply stunning Hazakura, Innocence Mission and I Won’t Let My Kids Go To War are everything that was so perfect about the Japanese indie-pop scene in the late 90s, when it cames to pass that they adored the more fragile, fluttering jangle-pop of certain Sarah Records acts and imbued it with even more fragility and flutter, to make it a goregous, barely discernible beauty.

Of course, even the thinnest of Japanese indie-pop needs to break free at some point and this act / album is no different with Sparkle, Another Sunny Day and If You Touch You forging a road along which brillinat future Japanese acts like Luby Sparks and the quieter moments of Lucie, Too, travelled along so brilliantly.

I now have this release on CD and cassette as I am just ‘that’ cool, however this is just one of those sounds that ‘feels’ so much better on cassette. If you fancy one they are still some available here.

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