REVIEW: Perfume “GAME” • 04.17.08
PERFUME
GAME
(Tokuma Japan)
Availability: CD only
Rating:
Perfume, a three-piece J-pop girl group (the members - Nocchi, Kashiyuka, and A-chan - all use nicknames professionaly a-la TLC), on outward appearance do not seem to have much to distinguish themselves from other, similarly sized girl groups. Yet, with several singles to their name (all of which appeared on a compilation that preceded this album), this is only their first proper studio album. And it debuted at #1 on Oricion’s daily album chart this past Tuesday. What’s the deal?
Musically, Perfume are backed by arrangements heavy on all manner of analog synthesizers - often presenting harsher textures that recall early Polysics - and digital keyboards, married mostly to house and slower Eurobeat rhythms. That is the good part - all 12 of the songs on GAME are well written and well arranged, sometimes cleverly (the sequencers on “Bufferfly” easily evoke the winged creature of the same name) and its easy to see why songs like “Baby cruising Love” and “Polyrhythm” have made the pop charts in Japan. However, the instrumentation does not vary until the closing track, “Puppy Love”, comes in with a “Linus And Lucy” left-hand bass line and a choppy, artificial-sounding acoustic guitar.
Vocally, however, Perfurme are marred by heavy use of vocoders and other ProTools plug-ins. Used as a compositional device on the appropriate song (think Buono!’s “Internet Cupid”, Bob Mould’s “(Shine Your) Life Love Heart”, Panic! At The Disco’s “Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks”), or even in select places within a song (think Cher’s “Believe” and Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction”), it makes for variety within the confines of an album. Used heavily on every track without a break… well, think of current American R&B sensation of the moment, T-Pain, and his heavy reliance on vocoder-like vocal effects (a recent live TV performance that circulated on YouTube revealed how poor of a singer he is without the ProTools plug-ins).
The end result? An otherwise good album is marred by a production that casts doubts about the talent of its vocalists. They may have a number one album and a couple of hit singles to their credit, but on subsequent trips to the studio they’ll have to leave the vocal plug-ins deactivated in ProTools and use more varied musical arrangements if they even expect to see Morning Musume’s taillights from at least eight blocks away (by which time Morning Musume will have probably racked up another five or ten Top 10 hits). Like George Clinton sang on Parliament’s “Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk”, “Better luck next time.”
