Maybe the best way to operate as a supergroup is to do your best to have everyone melt together. Metafive packs as impressive a line-up of Japanese artists as one could imagine — any fantasy team that can nab some of the minds behind Cornelius, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Denki Groove and more is going to look scary on paper — but early returns showed the project as flawed in the same way most of these heavy-hitter deals are — when you can pick up on individual pieces of artists who have made jaw-dropping material in the past, why wouldn’t you just listen to that?
“Luv U Tokio” corrects this by dissolving the pasts of everyone wrapped up in this into fidgety electro-pop. This resembles the equally high-profile songs Towa Tei has been making over the last few years — featuring most of the same players! — wherein every element blends together just right, making for a woozy number with nice subtle details (such as: Leo Imai’s vocals sneaking in on only the chorus, adding a nice switch up to Yukihiro Takahashi’s voice). It doesn’t sound like a supergroup made it, and that’s exactly what works best. Listen above.