You Can Be My Wave

Hakushi Hasegawa has easily been my favourite musical discovery of the last ten years. Speaking specifically of their debut mini-album, Somoku Hodo, this talented musical prodigy from Japan thoroughly impressed me with their musicianship and compositions. Taking it one step further, Hakushi Hasegawa incorporates speedy electronics, glitches, and other hyperpop aesthetics (if you will) which effectively convinces me that they are not from this planet; rather originating from some advanced race from galaxies far beyond. After impressive online showcases during events put on by both Porter Robinson and Flying Lotus, the latter signed them to Brainfeeder records, a fitting home for artists that strive to reach new frontiers in their respective genres. Personally speaking, this news was met with a great deal of excitement as it meant new music on the horizon, and more access to this elusive artist here in North America. It took awhile for Mahōgakkō to finally arrive, but the wait was well worth it.

The first teaser for this record, Boy's Texture (discounting last year's Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)), did puzzle me. It was very tender and pretty with a gentle acoustic guitar melody and some uncharacteristically tame percussion. There were some odd vocal samples thrown into the mix as well which helped give it a sort of uncanny vibe that I would typically associate with their music. The point being that it was one of their most docile songs to date, and as a teaser to the album, I wondered if Hakushi Hasegawa would be going back on some of the hyper-eccentricities that initially drew me to their music. That wasn't the case at all as the two singles that followed, Departed and Gone, were some of the most accelerated tracks in his catalog. I honestly had to check whether I was listening to them at two-times speed on the YouTube player. Departed is a cartoonishly zany, yet triumphant opening number, while Gone has similar levels of schizophrenic skittering and still manages to fall even further off the rails by the time KID FRESINO arrives to perform a rap verse. With nothing in the instrumental for KID FRESINO to get any sort of purchase on, it is flabbergasting how he is able to lock in and make his feature actually sound good. Surprisingly, neither of these tracks compare to the insanity of KYŌFUNOHOSHI, the album's final teaser. Nothing in Hakushi Hasegawa's discography could have prepared me for the relentless and pounding percussion that engulfs this track. I'm not up on my electronic, rave sub-genres, but I imagine gabber and speedcore will probably get you in the right ball park. What makes this song novel though are the blaring horns that squawk throughout, and Hakushi Hasegawa's jovial vocal performance. It is exhilarating, however, it comes microscopically close to what is mentally intolerable.

As for the rest of the material on the album, it is very much in line with Boy's Texture: meaning songs that are a lot more manageable for the brain to process and often featuring very sweet melodies as well as lush instrumentation. I thoroughly enjoy all of these mental reprieves, especially Forbidden Thing (Kimmotsu) thanks to its stunningly beautiful piano performance and the song's intimate nature. In summary, Mahōgakkō essentially operates at the two extremes described, which brings me to the only real negative point I have to make about this album. In previous projects, Hakushi Hasegawa was able to take his compositionally rich songs and add electronic elements to add excitement and intensity to his music. On this album, it's one or the other. You either have songs where the intensity eviscerates any semblance of Hakushi Hasegawa's musicality, or songs that are deeply affecting emotionally, save for the excitement. My one wish for this record is that there could have been a meeting in the middle, even on just one or two tracks. A really good example of a track that strikes that balance is Look At Me, which Hakushi Hasegawa debuted during Brainfeeder's "The Hit" three years ago. Sadly, this track is not included in the collection. Regardless, I found this to be a very wild and entertaining listen; a welcomed addition to Hakushi Hasegawa's impressive discography.