Asobi Seksu – Fluorescence

Asobi Seksu – Fluorescence
Polyvinyl: 2011

This Oscar season, praise is rightly being heaped on Christopher Nolan’s dream-jumping Inception. The film, as you likely know, thrilled audiences with the possibilities of dreams and featured the notion that people can live in a dream – and better yet, build cities and worlds through their own imagination. Worlds are built up and ultimately torn down, all in the mind.

Fluorescence, the fifth studio album by Asobi Seksu, similarly specializes in building up lush, dream-like soundscapes and building idyllic castles of brisk melody and arching hooks, only to tear them down in sweeping, riotous dashes.

The album is a spirited rebound to the quiet-by-comparison Hush (2009). It features grander melodies and a quicker pulse. And while it doesn’t necessarily match the flashpoint intensity of 2006’s Citrus, Fluorescence still brightly burns its own colorful path.

Singer Yuki Chikudate provides lithe melodies throughout. She doesn’t have to fight too hard to get over walls of reverbs and guitar sound, her voice striking a fine balance of being pointedly direct but not shrill. On single “Trails”, she capably combines conviction and vulnerability, bravado and falsetto, tied together in a pristine pop package.

Billy Pavone’s bass is a sturdy foundation and compliments drummer Larry Gorman’s phrasings well. James Hanna lends amplifying atmosphere, satisfying structure and welcome, balancing harmonies.  However, when he takes lead vocal duties on “Counterglow”, it feels like an opportune time to visit the bar (but be sure to make it back for the next track, “Trance Out”, a Chikudate dip into a Japanese-worded dance).

And while Chikudate still steals the eyes, drummer Larry Gorman frequently ends up stealing the ears.  On “Leave the Drummer Out There,” the band builds breaks like a wave, allowing Gorman to reach back and curl up a massive whale of a groove.  His cinematic playing spurns the band in sprawling dimensions on closer “Pink Light.”

Ultimately, at the end of Fluorescence, listeners are left in the same position as audiences at the end of Inception: staring at each other, struggling to fully comprehend the journey, but satisfied knowing it was a fun experience.

3.5 out of 5