A good album if you are happy to ignore the swirl of controversy. Out August 19th on Eat Your Own Ears Recordings.
We will preface this album review by saying that a lot of controversy has followed Cornelius in recent years. The longstanding Japanese electronica visionary found himself the centre of attention in the lead-up to the Covid hit Olympics in Japan. There were accusations of bullying against several student peers with learning difficulties, when he was school aged, with degrees of severity and responsibility attributed to him. Whilst he has admitted to some wrong doing he has also fought back against some of the accusations . Most of this revolved around an interview he gave many years previously, a significant amount of distortion occurred online over how elements of the chat were presented. If it were clear cut wrongdoing with no remorse, we would not be reviewing this album.
Cornelius has a long history in music and has remixed some of the biggest names in the game. Several of his albums have near legendary status, Fantasma in 1997 and Point in 2001. The new album feels like a real evolution of style. In many respects it is a cleaner and less fussy creation, not overly complicated by unnecessary production. Keigo Oyamada is the brains behind the Cornelius brand. Of the new album he says, “As the world and my surroundings changed at an intense speed, I think all of that inevitably shaped this work. Rather than expressing these ideas directly, I approached them structurally — exploring continuity, transformation, and multiple coexisting states within a single, uninterrupted flow of time.”
‘まざらない /Mazaranai’ is a bouncy proper track before ‘You Make Me Cyborg’ comes across like a slightly Japanese twist on the sort of song The Divine Comedy specialise in. Whimsical, yet rocking all at once. ‘Aeons’ is musically really pleasant and cheerful before ‘Mirrors’ jumps out like a Japanese sung LCD Soundsystem track. At eight minutes long it risks self indulgence, but carries itself along on the groove.
‘Aeons’ features Sean Ono Lennon, son of Beatle John Lennon. The pair have collaborated a number of times previously. Cornelius played in the Plastic Ono Band for a while, leading to the pair striking up a friendship. Arto Lindsay features on ‘Bad Advice,’ while Bid of The Monochrome Set appears on ‘You Make Me Cyborg,’ Longtime collaborator Shintaro Sakamoto also contributes lyrics on ‘Mazarani.’
Whilst elements of the musical soundscape will be very familiar to long-time followers of Cornelius this latest release does feel like a significant adaptation of his style. The finished result is a fun, bouncy album that is full of easy listening sunshine vibes and grooves.
Essential Tracks: ‘You Make Me Cyborg,’ ‘Aeons,’ ‘Mirrors,’ ‘夢寝見 / Yumenemi’ and ‘Twisting and Glistening.’
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