Item: Shunkan - The Pink Noise
Rating: 4

Reviewer: Will Richards

Released: 20th November 2015

Label: Art Is Hard

Shunkan released her debut EP ‘Honey, Milk and Blood’ on UK DIY label Art is Hard last year, a gorgeous set of lo-fi numbers. For ‘The Pink Noise’, Marina Sakimoto has recruited and moulded with a full band to take her sound skyward.

The LP is half hour of glorious fuzz that still manages, in large chunks, to remain delicate and affecting. ‘Peter’ proves an early highlight, possessing the chorus of the album and using the frantic additions of Sakimoto’s band members to realise and execute her Weezer-sized melodies and ambitions.

When things are scaled back on ‘Paelentologist’, the New Zealand-based singer’s vocals are given room to become the focal point and completely soar. The extra instrumentation employed does often serve to drown the vocals and lyrics that were so prominent on the EP, but when they poke their head above water on this and ‘Here Work Me’, they prove just as affecting as ever.

Doubts over Sakimoto’s ability to engage and thrive across a full-length are quashed by ‘Everybody Wants To Die’ and the title track, two standouts to finish the LP which employ swirling melodies followed around by equally engaging guitar lines.

Everything that made ‘Honey, Milk and Blood’ an attention-grabbing debut is held in tact on ‘The Pink Noise’, while mountains of distortion help carry Marina Sakimoto’s voice further than ‘Honey…’ ever dared. The EP didn’t feel lacking without this extra crunch, but when employed here it becomes a vital addition to what is a huge step up for Shunkan.

‘The Pink Noise’ could easily have been a stuttering road test for Shunkan ft. band, trying to take her melodies to new, fuzzy levels, but the final product is fully-formed, confident and glorious.

Tags: Album Reviews, Reviews, Art Is Hard, Shunkan