Roughness helps Evening Cinema stand out from the ever-smoothing Japanese rock crowd. Intentionally or not, the group’s harsh vocals add a sandpapered-edge to twinkling pop full of tight bass lines and sparkly keyboard notes. “Wagamama” shows this isn’t just a demo situation, but rather that the elements just not quite fitting — but coming close enough to not sound bad — make this far more intriguing. And good to remember, plenty of city pop titans sometimes sounded off over the excess of their music. Evening Cinema seem more deserving of the “new city pop” tag than most. Listen above.
