What’s your beef with all-girl J-rock acts, Sonia?
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Sonia Yang: The beef I have with a lot of all-girl J-rock units is there’s a huge marketing emphasis on the “all-girl” part, as if playing in a rock band is such a masculine shtick that one has to try doubly hard to reassure the audience that yes, they are in fact still female. But while Shishamo fully embrace their femininity with cute melodies and girly song topics, they don’t add any saccharine glaze to their musical arrangements or aesthetic. “Boku, Jitsu wa” is a hint more serious and mature than their previous work and feels like a sequel to the criminally catchy “Boku ga Kanojo ni Dekitanda” (“I can be your girlfriend”). The contrast between frontwoman Asako Miyazaki’s light, high voice and gritty instrumentals is the best part, and I’m also loving new bassist Aya Matsuoka, who plays with more attitude than the original one.
[8]
Alfred Soto: The mismatch between the vocal’s attempt to hold a melody and the track’s garage thump doesn’t produce worthwhile aesthetic tension — it just doesn’t work.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: Kind of like Kay Hanley having live creative differences with a bad post-punk band.
[4]
Mo Kim: Warm, scrappy noise; the guitars jingle like spare coins in a teenager’s pocket, while the drums drift on and off tempo with impunity. It speaks to the band’s charm that they can capture the moments of stumbling and the moments of swooning equally well.
[6]
Iain Mew: The guttural roar of guitars, drums punching through the wall, is a hell of an intro. Shishamo ride it as far as they can, and it’s just far enough.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: Unfair comparison perhaps given the national proximity, but the fuzz on the guitar totally reminds me of the butt-rock anthem contained within Boris’ “Statement“. But whereas there you have a buzzed-up crusher, Shishamo are scything along with the wave of a ribbon through air. It’s poised and pleasant, with a determined craftsmanship, but much like Boris’ “Pink”-era material, it’s creatively chaff: well-made yet not able to profoundly change what it seeks to be, and essentially unconcerned as long as it can ride the wave.
[6]
Rebecca A. Gowns: All the components tick along beautifully: the spunky guitar, the charging-ahead drums, the full chest voice without affectation! It begins and ends exactly as it should, like the perfect coffee date. Simple, energetic, lovely and involving every time it’s replayed.
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