Perfume¡¯s fifth studio album, ¡°Cosmic Explorer,¡± starts off with a stunner. ¡°Navigate,¡± with its intricate electronic atmosphere and inspirational melody, creates the sense that one of Japan¡¯s most innovative groups is on course to discovering new sonic territory. Then, the EDM iceberg hits. The title track, ¡°Flash¡± and ¡°Baby Face¡± opt for the kind of EDM influences that can be heard on any track from Apple Music¡¯s U.S. dance charts from over the past few years. However, though the sound may be a bit played out to Western ears, it¡¯s still relatively new to Japanese ones. It¡¯s a shame Perfume is veering away from its trademark electronic intricacies, but the group has been doing that for almost a decade. Still, the inclusion of ¡°Story¡± is odd, the industrial samples sound more like songwriter-producer Yasutaka Nakata¡¯s more recent experiments with Capsule.
Anthemic choruses aside, there are a few glimmers of the old Perfume on tracks ¡°Tokimeki Lights¡± and ¡°Next Stage With You¡± (featuring a bridge that is classic Perfume). There¡¯s also a familiar sweetness on the Shibuya-kei inspired ¡°Hold Your Hand.¡±
In the end, it would be wrong to critique the group for any missteps as the blame ¡ª or credit, depending on your views on EDM ¡ª lies squarely on Nakata¡¯s shoulders. As one of Japan¡¯s most innovative producers, maybe the success caused him to lose his muse ¡ª or maybe he just found it in Vegas. Oh well, we¡¯ll always have ¡°Game.¡±
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