Tujiko Noriko: My Ghost Comes Back (Editions Mego, 2014)

November 30, 2014 at 10:06 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Tujiko Noriko: My Ghost Comes Back

First solo Tujiko Noriko album since 2008, and her first on eMego since 2007. This is a bit more of an expanded sound than some of her more poppy earlier works, with tracks stretching out into ambitious suites (opening track “My Heart Isn’t Only Mine” is nearly 15 minutes long!) featuring lush instrumentation (horns, strings, koto, vibraphone, organ) in addition to the usual synths and glitches. There’s also a few guest vocalists (Maxwell August Croy of Root Strata label on several tracks; Chloé Fabre on “Through The Rain”) and drums by Austrian drummer Martin Brandlmayr (Radian, Trapist, Polwechsel, etc) on a couple others. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember hearing Tujiko sing in English as much as she does on this album. “Minty You” comes closest to the glitchy downtempo sound of her previous albums, but “Through The Rain” has far more of a live band sound with her usual quirky melodicism. “Under The White Sheets” changes several times through its 6 minutes, adding whistling synths (maybe a theremin or saw), horns, and different stumbling beats. “My Ghost Comes Back” ends the album with another long, woozy suite of slow, crashing dub-flavored beats, softly strummed instruments and gentle vocals.

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