If you’re not into the ever effervescent japenese pop scene, you may have missed this one. I’ve got to admit, i almost missed it too. HITOMITOI, one of the finest hidden gems of citypop revival, released Telepa Telepa LP this last March and it just happens to sound great. While it’s true that most of what this lady touches turns into melting candy sounds for AOR enthusiasts’ ears, HITOMITOI has taken a risky direction on this new project and has brutally succeeded
Inspired by the influence of cherished city pop legend Tatsuro Yamashita, Hitomi Amano is well known by her continuous effort in polishing the nitty-n’-gritty of city pop’s new sound for more than a decade. I mean she is dead serious about it. She even worked twice with Tsuyoshi Kawakami, the mastermind behind RYUSENKEI: her voice was present on TOKYO SNIPER LP (2006) -the quintessential record of Tsuyoshi project- and more recently, she contributed to Talio Fukushu Daiko no Futari‘s OST (2020), a japanese TV drama that casually got the greatest music of all time.
Besides all these facts associated with HITOMITOI career, Telepa Telepa now seems to take her music in another direction with the help of Wild Nothing (USA), Los Retros (USA) and juanpalitoschinos (MEX). This set of independent artists, also credited with a contemporary nostalgic sound, push gently HITOMITOI shibuya-style late-night mix into new flavours like 80’s western dream pop and 90’s spanish retro synth-pop. Even if she has already been experimenting with bossa, jazz and future-funk, this record has reached new heights and has surprised many fans in a good way.
No one asked for these new collabs but they’re just so good. Do yourself a favor: check this album in your favorite streaming platform and go check the art direction of «Like a First Kiss» clip below. Pure gold as always.
