Just what is it that they put in the water over in Scandanavia, really there must be something, in recent times we seem to be innudated with incredible Nordic related TV (Borgen,The Killing etc) and music (Simian Ghost, check them out on this very site and countless others) and now here come’s the debut album by Copenhagen based collective Pinkunoizu (Japanese for pink noise), a four-piece who originally served their time in acclaimed Danish post-rock band Le Fiasko before leaving to create a completely unique, hazy album that incorpates lo-fi indie, future rock, nu folk and 60’s Asian pop.
Trying to describe the music that Pinkunoizu make, is next to impossible, the sound like no one else and yet they manage to create bewitching hazy grooves complete with waves of lo-fi guitar, infectious off-kilter keyboards, wonky repetitive mantra like rhythms, laidback hushed vocals and pools of feedback, oddly you can also detect a surf influence on one track and spacey pop on another.
Lyrics and subject matter don’t help the listener to decipher the wierd and wonderful world of Pinkuoizu either, with songs ranging from such deep topics as “the incomprehensible mysteries of being” to cyborgs and feminism.
If all that wasn’t an already heady mix the band also throw in sounds recorded in and around the home and use them to further pepper their already intoxicating mix, oh and if you’re not confused enough already, tracks often blend into one another creating a confusing yet compelling listen.
Now you maybe reading all this and thinking that Free Time sounds like a complex album to get your head around, only it’s not in fact it’s an album to immerse yourself in, an album to sit back and allow to wash over you, an album to sweep you up and take you on a wonderful flight of discovery. I’m not going to trying and pinpoint highlights, only I will say that Parabolic Delusions is a brilliant psych pop masterpiece with a kind of Flaming Lips feel (only with horns) to it and Death Is Not A Lover is a crazed combination of handclaps, over driven and shimmering guitars, weird percussion and god only knows what else creating the most bewildering yet infectious take on indie pop ever known.
If you want something completely different, if you want an album that will equally inspire, compel, confuse and reward, if you want a band that sound like no one else, who create the most infectious grooves known to man I suggest you checkout the stunning sounds of Pinkunoizu and their brilliantly bonkers debut Free Time!
Rhythm & Booze Rating 10
www.pinkunoizu.com