There doesn’t seem to be many shades of gray in Ja panese music these days, with a spectrum that polarizes between hypercute anime sugar pop and sheets of atonal jazz metal noise. To fill that void, vocalist Kumi and guitarist Naoki Sato combined their Britpop obsessions in 1997 by forming Love Psychedelico and became an immediate sensation; the duo’s debut, The Greatest Hits, sold over two million copies. Although their subsequent releases have been more modestly received, they remain hugely popular, evidenced by consistent sales of their next five albums and regular sell-out crowds at Budokan Stadium (and their own coffee line, pinball game and theme song to Japan’s Major League Baseball franchise arrangement). Delico (as they’re known by their fan base) has already breached the U.S. market with mini-tours, capping their recent appearances with their North American debut, This Is Love Psychedelico. Although it’s easy to trace the duo’s influences, they don’t wear them like garish fan T-shirts, instead deftly weaving their musical passions into their own unique presentation. As Kumi delivers lyrics in a combination of English and Japanese (to surprisingly effective results), Sato delivers a guitar attack that is well informed by British history and the pair come out of the blender with a sound that hints at Sheryl Crow and the Bangles throwing down with the Stones and Oasis. Love Psychedelico may never achieve Budokan numbers here but they already sound like a good many of your favorite bands that do.
--Brian Baker [October 4, 2008]
