Takashi Wada's "28°C" begins simply, with a few plucked notes of an acoustic guitar echoing nicely around a "wet" room, before a cooing female voice sings a few bars and a field recording bridge serves as a ramp up to a grand second half. Suddenly, a rapid double-time Casio beat and sampled bottom of double bass folds in, eventually carrying with it a joyous melody swinging on a synthesized trumpet. It's like a toned-down version of Max Tundra's "Cakes", and it's one of those moments where you forget completely who you're listening to, or how the music is being made. You just feel happy at this thing that sounds so good in such a fresh way.
So it goes through much of Meguro, the first album from this 21-year old kid from Tokyo. Traditional instruments mingle easily with electronics, and the usual boundaries associated with these tools breaks down. Wada is a student of jazz guitar and classical piano, which might explain why his eclectic blend of sounds and approaches is seamless. Four Tet and the first Manitoba album are reference points, but Meguro's music is more placid than either while remaining unpredictable. These songs don't seem hemmed in by genre; they go where they need to go.
That said, the overall tone of Meguro is certainly pastoral, and roughly half the record could be accurately termed ambient. "3am Cityscape" is the title of the first track, and it's a telling opening image. As the track drifts along in the bubbly post-Gas haze, it's not hard to imagine the kind of slow pan across a skyline Sofia Coppola so loved in Lost in Translation. Whenever synths are present, they're fluffed up like pillows, all soft edges and thick texture, so even on "Modern Architecture" when an uptempo, bass-heavy beat enters halfway through, that the chords still suggest contemplation and stillness. "6pm Cityscape" leaves no doubt as to when Wada comes alive; its warm, dubby techno seems much more beginning than end.
When he tones down the blissout, Wada fuses genres and incorporates pop melodies. "Space and Shadow" uses conga drums to impart a Latin feel, though when the full beat comes in, it proves too hectic to be danceable. The title track resembles Nobukazu Takemura during his Child's View phase, with descending piano chords, kiddie drums, and a clarinet calling the tune. Unfortunately, the most obvious weakness of Meguro is something else Wada shares with Takemura: He has a knack for letting his tracks go too long, repeating ideas after he's already made his point. There's not quite enough here to warrant the record's 72-minute runtime. Still, Wada is young and editing is a learned skill. On the evidence here, we should remain attentive to wherever he goes next.
