beautiful blood? - (Sherbets - きれいな血)

Sherbets
きれいな血

why you'll love it: Evocative soul and rock
why you'll hate it: slow, and lyrically impenetrable 

Kenichi Asai: a name I throw around quite a bit here.  Not just because he put out one of my favorite records last year (Nancy).  Not just because he is this generation's most consistent and expressive rock and roll songwriter.  It's also because this dude doesn't slow down for a minute.  When it's not his solo career, it's one of the handful of bands he's fronted over the last twenty years.

This year, the wheel stops on Sherbets, his longest lasting outfit.  Also, his most melodically ambitious.  Rarely does Sherbets deliver a heavy hitting rock number (like so many of his other projects do).  This quintet explores the softer side of rock, with plenty of psychedelic and soul influences.  Much like the rest of Sherbets' catalogue, when きれいな血 finds the right groove, the melodies can be very evocative, despite the lyrics being a complete mystery.  The title track and "ひょっとして" deliver a rich, dreamlike soundscape.  The instrumental track "Massive Hooligan" has just as much grace and power; proving that vocals are only icing.  If you have plenty of imagination, this is one of Sherbets' most accessible albums.

Because きれいな血 is mostly built on etherial melodies, the garage-rock single "Lady Nedy" gets the side-eye from me.  I hate when singles fail to represent the actual tone of an album.  Sherbets have had plenty of rock songs in the past, but "Lady Nedy" is alone in a crowd.  The following track, "Now I'm Here" soothes into a harder edge much more smoothly.  "Lady Nedy" just sort of forces its way into the album.  I'd be angry... if the song wasn't so good!  Actually it's only the repetitive "Freeze Market" and stilted ballad "She" that are low-lights.  Everything else comes together to make Sherbets' strongest release in over five years.

It's admirable how much range Sherbets can create with such a mellow sound.  "ミツバチ" sours high in the air with Qumico Fucci's best performance on the album, while the groovy low end focused "ワナフィー" has its catchiest beat.  Aside from "Lady Nedy" Sherbets doesn't stray from a chill, well polished pace.  The last three songs don't seem to make their mark in the same way the rest of the tracks do, but by this point Sherbets has me fully engaged, so it's easy to ride out.  At the very least I like how, "New Ruby Tuesday" softly closes things out like blowing out a candle and watching the smoke drift away.

Sherbets has an ambitious sound; meaning sometimes their message doesn't come though, and they can come off as unfocused.  きれいな血 is certainly not one of those efforts.  While it probably can't stand up to the more immediately enjoyable albums of 2015, this one of the most intimate works of Kenichi Asai's career.