Their name is Japanese, their influences are German, and their new album, Transparent Things, is named after a novel by Russian Vladimir Nabokov, but Fujiya & Miyagi are actually a Brighton, U.K. trio releasing their first disc stateside, full of bleeping, sardonic wit and atmospheric vibes. Transparent Things collects a stew of the band's British singles together.
Fujiya & Miyagi have brewed up a drifting soundtrack to ennui, down-tempo dance tunes for a rainy drive or a 3 a.m. ponder. The songs never quite explode into full-out release, but amble along in a groove that's gently uplifting. Circling, repetitive riffs flow along with deadpan surrealistic vocals to create a systematic mood throughout Transparent Things. At its best, it all induces a trancey reverie about the always-on, wired world we live in – or as vocalist David Best murmurs in the title track, "I look through transparent things and I feel okay."
"Cassette Single" updates and homages the Kraftwerk instrumental sound over a six-minute trek, while the lullaby "Cylinders" sounds a bit like a trippy cover version of a song by '80s act The Church. "Ankle Injuries" has a propulsive drive and winkingly repeats the band's name over and over until you space out into the ether. "We were just pretending to be Japanese," Best whispers in "Photocopier," undercutting the solemn sway of some of the music by telling us it might all just be a big game. They even quote the old tune "Dem Bones" extensively in the goofy "Collarbone."
The music's foundation of the hallowed kraut-rock gods Can, Kraftwerk, and Neu blend in with more modern wry disco-punk tints. Fans of LCD Soundsystem's amped-up irony-techno might dig this as the chilled-out, egghead sibling. Fujiya & Miyagi might be transparent things, but you can see an awful lot of things in a reflection, after all, can't you?
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1 - Connie Phillips
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