Jikan Ga Nai, "Plenty Time" EP (review from Soundscape Memoirs) Strange are these times, where many new bands can be reduced to comparisons of groups from yesteryears: the Smith Westerns = T. Rex, Tame Impala = Cream, CHVRCHES = Depeche Mode, and so forth. I do wonder sometimes if it’s the musicians or the journalists that lack imagination…regardless, I’d be hard-pressed to match this EP from Jikan Ga Nai to any particular artist. It’s a two-man team, this project - and both individuals, French freewheeler Pain Noir and Scotsman Harold Nono of Bunny & the Electric Horsemen, have both honed their engineering chops in other recording projects. As Jikan Ga Nai - or “there’s not enough time” in Japanese - these crafty musicians have designed a curious EP, humorously titled “Plenty Time”, that explores specific moments of time through eclectic arrangements of electric gadgets. The very titles themselves suggest scenes, not melodies. “When We Lie Down We Take The Penguins Home” is indeed a chilly number, in which chopped-up guitar solos tune in and out over a tinny synth. “Of Course We Weren’t Always Superstars” is a track of clashing opposites – while the bustling drum machine plugs along with the bouncing blips, streaks of celestial sound and a pristine choir hover overhead. And “The Man Who Tells the Trains”, the closer, pitches the listener into the black of night, with its stark piano chords and fat bass synths; skittering beeps and alien guitars creep on our nerves, lending a shade of paranoia to our nocturnal stroll. Ah, but the most intriguing scene unfolds in the evening, or the third track – “Legend Days” opens with the hum of a vacuum cleaner, followed by a series of clanks that suggests the locking up of a shop at the end of the day. That’s my take, anyway – but the soft acoustic strum and the mellow analog melody do lend to a moment of repose. After a brief pause, the tune returns with a steady pulse and a distant, soothing choir; then the glorious electric guitar kicks in with a stream of arpeggios, gracing the track with such verve and movement as to suggest something spectacular about this particular return from work. Yes – “Legend Days” is perhaps my favorite off the LP, namely because its shifting structure and ambiguous ambient sounds inspire the listener to invent some original narrative to explain it all. Indeed, Jikan Ga Nai have contrived a rare work here with this EP. Rather than merely borrowing certain styles, these two have tinkered with an array of tools to create settings and moods. If you’d care to hear (and buy!) “Plenty Time” for yourself, just hop over to this Bandcamp page, manned by their label Bearsuit Records. soundscapememoirs.weebly/recommendations.html
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:02:43 +0000