Fuzzy Nostalgia: Sound Resorts’ “Hadashi No Watashi”

The “new City Pop” wave that really started crashing in last year looks to not be going anywhere in 2016, as groups embrace smooth sounds referencing the 1980s. It’s a hit-or-miss proposition, with some of it adding a sense of now to the proceedings (or just doing the throwback thing so well), but with a lot of the rest feeling a bit too diorama-ish.

Sound Resorts’ “Hadashi No Watashi” shows an interesting third path — it features all the requisite Kabukicho-in-a-bubble synths and sharp drum programming, but instead of playing it clean the project (intentionally or not) offers a messier nostalgia that jumps out from all the tight versions filling up record store shelves. The vocals sound like they are trying to escape a broken speaker, like they are caught up in time travel, while the samples popping up at the start and throughout sound rough. It’s a look at a past, but under a coat of dust. Listen above.