Customer Reviews

Superficial Gossip

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Another highly accessible release from Shiina Ringo. On this CD the artist presents us with 14 tracks, all of which are worthy of repetitive play. She mixes things up a lot, opening with a very fast opening track with a catchy hip-hop sound. From there we are treated to a variety of musical styles ranging from rock to pop to show tune. The CD is capped off with an acoustic rendition of Marunouchi Sadistic that could just as easily showed up on a Tokyo Jihen release.

Other Shiina Ringo albums, according to the reviews I've read, supposedly buck the J-pop trend of over-produced cutesiness. Yet over-produced cutesiness is just what's wrong with this album. The songs are catchy and they come on strong, but they aren't very substantial. The singer and songwriter (I presume this is Shiina Ringo herself in both cases) is clearly talented and I'd like to hear her at her best--she deserves a better showcase than this! And according to the reviews, she's already had several, in some of her previous albums. Hooray!

Being the first proper solo album of original material since 2003's "Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana," 2009's "Sanmon Gossip" was to be (for me, at least) the final test of whether Shiina Ringo had truly lost her muse, or whether the disappointing releases from 2007 onward were merely the product of collaboration (her work with Tokyo Jihen) or general lack of involvement (albums of covers, b-sides, re-recordings, etc).

I must say, with a heavy heart, that I'm now fully convinced of the former. "Superficial Gossip" shows that the once-special Ringo is now content to bang out unremarkable lounge pop/rock, devoid of any of the passion and originality that marked her earlier work. I can no longer place blame on the rest of Tokyo Jihen; Ms. Shiina seems to be trying really hard to make the most derivative, soulless drivel she can muster.

Her artistic trajectory from her first solo album to "Karuki Zamen"seemed to indicate an initial reliance upon conventional J-rock stylings that gradually dissipated as she gained confidence and control of her releases, and a growing surge of quirky individualism that lurked even within her earliest work. But ever since Tokyo Jihen's second album, the woman I once thought of as a spiritual sister to Bjork has re-immersed herself in the mediocrity of popular Japanese music.

I haven't given this the lowest rating possible, because, as disappointing as it is to hear an artist lose their creative spark, the fact remains that Ringo has a great voice, and can come up with some good melodies. Even though the Nuevo Tango homage in "Ordinary Ability" is just empty stylization, and has nowhere near as much emotional pull as a song like "Kuki" (let alone anything by Astor Piazzolla), Shiina Ringo at her most bland will still be somewhat pleasant to listen to.

I was hoping that the one shining star of Japanese pop music would continue to expand her artistic ambitions, and eventually achieve recognition overseas as an original and exciting voice to be heard. "Superficial Gossip" is one more nail thrust into the coffin of that dream. Talk about depressing.