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MH-256 4 Bonjour's Parties - Pigments Drift Down To The Brook  4 Bonjour's Parties is a seven member strong ensemble from Tokyo, Japan. Their debut full-length release, Pigments Drift Down To The Brook, with it's expansive, chamber-music approach to song structure and production, hints at modern risk-takers Architecture In Helsinki and The Arcade Fire. Alternating between sweet and majestic, the combination of male and female vocals, sung both in Japanese accented English, is an aural wonder. Keyboards and wind instruments lay on top of a bed of dream-rock guitar, bass, and drums, creating moments of 60’s guitar pop, Neu inspired repetition, and modern electronics, all within the same expansive track. Pigments Drift Down To The Brook marks 4 Bonjour's Parties as a band that deserves close attention. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| A big sound with a sense of wonder to it - Remix / Should be making the world of pop music take notice - The Needle Drop / A gloriously dreamy treasure - Organ / Breathtaking experience in ethereality and catharsis - PopMatters / Nothing quite like this on the market today - Slug / You can't go wrong with this - Giant Robot |
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| Some bands just make it hard for themselves. 4 Bonjour’s Parties practically insist that I DON’T buy their 2007 debut Pigments Drift Down To The Brook. For a start, the name of the Tokyo seven-piece is symptomatic of the overrated ’90s Shibuya-kei scene, suggesting an unwanted package of nostalgic vanilla pop lies in wait. The title of the album impresses me even less: seemingly invented for Pitchfork reviewers with its lazy invocation of the kind of pastoral analogue electronica that automatically gets rewarded with an 8.2 review. No offence, but I already have at least ten as-yet-unheard albums of pastoral analogue electronica waiting for me at home, so I don’t need another, thanks. Shall we end today’s post right there? No, let’s pursue this a little further. Los Angeles-based Mush Records have just picked up Pigments Drift Down To The Brook for international release after glowing reviews in Japan and they are kindly making lead single "Satellite" available as a free taster. Watch the video and download the song if you like it. There’s something about Koji Ueno’s vocal that gets under the skin. Wracked with the same quizzical sense of detachment as that of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s Tori Kudo, it’s augmented on this record by light and skippy female vocals from his cast of magical musical supporters. Unlike Maher though, 4 Bonjour’s Parties tend towards lush, expansive arrangements that suggest commercial success is nothing to be afraid of. This next video finally persuades me. Watching 4 Bonjour’s Parties onstage is like seeing alchemy performed live. The seven-member cast fulfill their roles with minimal fuss, hand-sewing what in chamber pop circles must always be referred to as a "quilt" of elegant song in a performance as genuinely beautiful as it is shorn of theatrics. I recommend this album. - Japonchi |
