Poor, poor Figure. Take a glance at the Japanese artist’s Bandcamp page and you’ll see something jarring – along the right-hand side are tour dates, and it seems Figure will be touring all around the United States this fall. Alas, wrong Figure – turns out there is an Indiana bass-music maker sharing the name. Yet Japan’s Figure deserves more attention now…maybe not quite a foreign tour…after releasing the Come Down EP, a bit of an artistic breakthrough for the project.
Prior to this EP, Figure was one of those post-Teen Runnings groups recording loud, fuzzy songs from the comfort of their bedroom, the sort that have dominated the Japanese music web scene for a couple years now. Figure initially sounded a bit underdeveloped – early tracks seemed more like noisy experiments rather than actual songs, poor recording quality also hurting the final product. Yet Come Down finds just the right balance between menace and melody, Figure finding out how create engaging music using limited resources. The music is still loud, but now the guitar squall hides clear and lovely songs. “Soft Path,” which has been floating around for a bit, illustrates this new found balance – the instrumentation dominates the song, but Figure includes softer touches like keyboard while the vocals try to peak through the noise (if you need a Western comparison, think DIIV). “Place” enters dreamier territory, never letting the guitars or bass disrupt the heady feel, while “Come Down” makes distorted drum beats and twinkly keyboards (or is that xylophone??) coexist together. Come Down ends with “My Side,” a seasick slow song that is nothing more than some strummed guitar, piano and some hushed singing. It’s a gorgeous end to an EP that shows Figure has made a jump forward. Listen here.
