New Capchii: Memories

Focusing on the cuddly side of Capchii’s music does a disservice to Memories. Sure, it features a lot of “kawaii bass” flourishes, and it has anime-style album art (seriously, this is pitfall number one!), and it does all of this well. But what makes Memories feel like a big step forward for the artist is all the non-fluffy elements. “Melodies, Memories” kicks the album off with a bonafide pop center, getting vocal help from Somunia and constructing something better than 90 percent of happy-sappy idols using a home set up. From there, it’s mostly a high-energy affair, zipping out on the bass-blasted “Connection” and later highlighting dizzying, fluttery electronic escape (with a roughneck border) on album highlight “Emotion.” And you even get sentimental breathers, like the reflective string-assisted “Festival Of Cherry Snow,” which takes one of the better emotional turns here when it blooms into an electronic guitar workout. Get it here, or listen below.