Muchuu
Adventure We Go (Kii Music)
Brother and sister duo, Muchuu, were once described as being “like the Ting Tings’ more experimental kid siblings”. But frankly, I disagree. Though there are minor similarities, Muchuu possess far more imagination both musically and lyrically. Songs that take you on adventures to other worlds are delivered by Milky’s soft, innocent and child-like vocals whilst brother George is the brains behind the music from mystical synths to enchanting piano melodies.
The evident chemistry between them on the album goes much further than just two people with a similar love of music. As their soft, translucent vocals bounce off of each other, there is a real feeling of wholeness to the music that occurs throughout the record.
Although the music is predominately electronic, many tracks also include piano, music box, shakers and a whole host of weird and wonderful instruments giving the album a great organic feel in balance with the synths and electronic vocal effects. This compliments the themes of nature, magic and dreams found on songs such as ‘Somebody Tell Me’ and ‘Their World’.
Some tracks do melt together in their similarities but then there are those that stand out in their quirky uniqueness. ‘Paint Me Rain’ introduces the band’s oriental influence with darting drums softly thundering through the chorus while ‘Songs In My Room’ is more up-tempo with stop-start vocals and short bursts of more oriental inspired melodies over layered synths.
Overall the album is soft, ambient and dreamy. And given that, in Japanese, Muchuu does actually mean to be in a trance or dream, the album does exactly what it says on the tin in that respect.
Nina Glencross
