JPN cover

JPN

Released

Perfume’s third album, 2011’s JPN, is wall to wall synths and ultra-precise digital production, including tons of finely chopped editing of the girls’ vocals, but melodically, it’s all over the place. “Natural ni Koishite” has an almost R&B strut, while “Glitter” and “Toki no Hari” are built around sing-song melodies with the hypnotic power of music aimed at preschoolers. “Laser Beam” is berserk cyber-chip-pop that explodes briefly into a stuttering, spasming explosion of inhumanity, as the girls’ voices are used as sampled percussion instruments and the whole thing breaks down into a digital stutter at the end of the bridge. It leads seamlessly into the Underworld-ish rave anthem “Glitter.” Gradually, the album’s pace builds and then slows, until the first single and closing track, “Spice.” A midtempo throb built around a hypnotic vocal line shared among the girls, and synth lines more reminiscent of ’80s dreamy pop than hard urban cyber-R&B, it’s a softly smiling wave goodbye.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
The Mix cover

The Mix

Kraftwerk
Plasma cover

Plasma

Perfume
Level3 cover

Level3

Perfume
Commercial cover

Commercial

Los Amigos Invisibles
Gran City Pop cover

Gran City Pop

Paulina Rubio