The Brilliant Green Los Angeles Sony, 2001 amazon

There's something about non-English music that validates my theory about the uselessness of the vast majority of music lyrics. The fact that someone singing in Japanese (such as Pizzicato Five or today's highlight, the Brilliant Green) can deliver an equally or even more engaging musical experience than someone singing in my native tongue says to me that it isn't so much what you say, it's how you sing it. This theory holds true for the first and third songs on the Brilliant Green's 2001 indie opus Los Angeles, "The Lucky Star" and "Angel Song", which despite their English names are sung principally in Japanese. Vocalist Tomoko Kawase sticks to the upper octaves (approaching but not rivaling the mousiness of Cranes singer Alison Shaw), but constructs harmonies that resonate regardless of the language. Like Pizzicato Five, the lyrics shift between English and Japanese (not that it helps someone like me understand the meaning any better). The backing music, created by Ryo Matsui and Shunsaku Okuda, points towards the more straightforward indie pop craftings of Velocity Girl as well as the shoegazing guitar fuzz of Ride and more recently Radiohead. Matsui in particular has a knack for delivering simple yet resonant guitar pieces to accentuate Kawase's piercing vocals. He's currently performing and recording as Meister with help from Mark Gardner, Sice, Manda Rin, Nick Beggs, and Howard Jones (talk about a motley crew!). However Matsui's main band continues to evolve, creating music bridging styles and nationalities.

login to submit comments