Cornelius has returned, and he sounds at home with the current state of J-Pop. “If You’re Here” is the first song from Mellow Waves, his first original album since 2006’s Sensuous. And similar to the numbers on that full-length…and prior release Point…”If You’re Here” uses abrupt breaks and just-off rhythms to construct a song. Bits and pieces of sound get threaded together to form a calming, just-over six minute number featuring the artist’s voice drifting over it all. It’s relaxing and has a very late-afternoon vibe…and it happens to feel very much of 2017 in Japanese music, where the breakthrough artist of the year have been the laid-back groovings of Suchmos (the guitar line that pops up at points here is smooth enough to appear on any of the acid-jazz-leaning revivalists going today). This still distinctly sounds like Cornelius post-Fantasma, but operating in a more relaxed, contemplative space. It will be interesting to see just how mellow those waves get in June. Listen above.
