Any who claim not to have a special place reserved in their heart for contemporary Japanese music are clearly mistaken. From the dawn of the computer age the nation captured attention for their lo-fi computer game themes. Sonic the Hedgehog, F-Zero X, Pokemonand Zelda all display an innate grasp of melody capable of easily mesmerising. This trait has been happily been absorbed by a vast amount of musicians composing within Japan. Epic, scaling orchestral ensembles flow from Tokyo like a river suddenly finding itself without banks nor borders. Along this crest sail 4 Bonjour’s Parties with “Pigments Drift Down to the Brook”, a colourful, sugar filled offering which fits quite comfortably between such influences as Mum and Efterklang. Opening track; “Magpie Will Peck A Hole In My Plaster Cast” is led by slow building electronic oddities met by xylophones and brass instruments followed by vocals that call to mind minimalist pop duo Lullatone and the wonderful “Piana”. Though the album could probably be considered more an instrumental piece, the vocals are never out of place and tend to feel like a return to the welcome of a warm home on a cold winter’s day. To support that claim, we submit exhibit “Il Cortile Grigiobeing”. The gazing dual male/female vocals of Ayumu Haitani and Koji Ueno harmonize superbly, although exposed weaknesses in power often appear vocally, this surprisingly adds to the overall impression, giving the recordings a delicate touch that softens the experience and renders it all the more human. Like a large amount of talented artists in Japan, 4 Bonjour’s Parties manage to absorb information from their surroundings and turn it into something that’s unique to their culture. This uniqueness isn’t always for the best though, as seen in sections such as the beginning of “Amalthea” and “Otogima Horse” where the music comes over a little disjointed, with instruments not quite making the desired inter-connection. This results in “Pigments…” being more of a showhome type affair, a great indication of what could be, but falling a little short of feeling completely like the finished product should. It’s doubtless that with a few minute alterations, proceedings wouldn’t look out of place with a ‘masterpiece’ tag attached. “Pigments…” could never be described as ‘universally accessible’, it lacks anything likely to challenge the eardrums, instead it lays down a landscape of rich sounds more likely to sooth an infant to sleep during a lakeside walk in the park. While some may mark that as a bad thing, the world needs beauty, and it seems like 4 Bonjour’s Parties wouldn’t have it any other way. - Strangeglue