Album Review – Fool by Lucie Too (2021) (This Time Records)
In just over a three years, Japan’s Lucie Too, have rapidly become the darling of both this blog and more importantly, a This Time Records label who know a thing or two about all manner and nuances of jangly/garage/power-pop guitar music, having released with notable acts such as The Posies, The Wellingtons and The Primary Five as well as countless others, who frequent the stereo systems/laptops of the most knowledgeable of indie music fans.
Lucie,Too thrive on the contrast between the sweetness of the beautifully typical south east asian vocals and carefully woven melodies, that are juxtaposed with a disparate energy and garage rock soul, that rips into the saccharine, but never truly dominates it.
At their most aggressive, tracks such as Get Back and 片思いFire Kataomoi Fire rebound wall of guitars reverb and distortion off every possible musical wall, with grumbling, snarling, incessant riffs that are reminiscent of the pop-punk sounds of The Hard-Ons. Of course being Lucie Too, the melodic riffs still, just about manage to simper to the surface, albeit in a shy, diluted form, almost begrudging form.
The energy never really declines. However, the tempo does, in tracks best represented by lead single Fool, シワの種 Shiwa no tane, Bedroom and the superlative stand out of the closing, ハミング Humming.
Such tracks enable the sweet nature of the vocals to cavort more easily within the more apparent jangled riffs, which, whilst still generally consumed by a garage rock intensity, take their place as an equal, stunning bed partner.
This is only the second full length release by this Tochigi based act, but already they have justified every single ‘follow button’ I have pressed to make sure I do not miss a note of their music !!!
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Excellent stuff
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