- Artist
- Cornelius
- Label
- Korova Records
- Release date
- 2nd April 2007
- Genre
- Electronica
Japanese producer not always making sense on mixed bag fifth album
Since his complex but highly acclaimed 2002 album Point, Japanese electronica experimentalist Keigo Oyamada has had a child. If this fifth album is anything to go by, fatherhood has not mellowed him.
Alongside its joyous, at times lazy sun-drenched atmosphere, Sensuous is suffused with a playful lack of inhibition. Cornelius gleefully adopts a "try anything" approach throughout, somehow combining his metronomic electro-future-pop with a wayward zigzag of idea upon idea.
Tracks work best when Cornelius is less cerebral and locks into a groove of his trademark dance music to put you in a trance - rather than trance that makes you want to dance. Breezin' is one such highlight - sparse syncopated rhythms and handclaps plus synthed-up vocal harmonies meld snugly to create bizarre, but strangely warming psychedelia. The DFA-style electro of Beep It, Wataridori's cascading experimental rhythms and the acoustic-funk of Music (featuring Norway's Kings Of Convenience) all create a similar effect. The new dad even squeezes in a lullaby, with a soothing, squelchy synth cover of Dean Martin's Sleep Warm.
However, with so many wayward ideas gasping for air, sometimes within the one song, Sensuous can at times sound disjointed and directionless. More conceptual tracks such as Gum, with its random words sung over trash metal, and Fit Song's jazzy rhythms and synth explorations irritate rather than intrigue and feel like experimental, show-off-y filler.
Sensuous might not always make sense. However, when it comes to building a playful bridge between ambient atmospherics and quirky pop, there's no doubt Cornelius could be the daddy.
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