Melting Moment

Before Noriko Sekiguchi had even started her career in music, she had already experienced a lifetime’s worth of musical education. Although born in Tokyo, she was raised in Brazil before being sent to France for school. The popular music of 1980s Brazil (which skewed heavily toward funk and rock n’ roll) and the French chanson her mother would sing doubtlessly influenced her, but it was the club culture bubbling up during her arrival in London in the late ‘80s that would shape her musical identity the most. Upon returning to Japan, she attempted to square these disparate influences — first, in a group alongside other electronic music heads based in Tokyo as the “Poison Girlfriends,” then with her debut solo record. Amidst the nascent indie rock wave that was set to take over Japanese radio, Melting Moment stood out as a bold statement. It was danceable, but quiet and contemplative too.