So the new Perfume single “ねぇ” and accompanying video worked its way onto the internet today. Unfortunately the folks at Perfume’s label swooped in and cut ’em all down. Or so I think. Look, sorry to play cryptic dude but until the folks at Tokuma Japan Communications give me advanced copies of their singles/hire me (hit up my e-mail!), I’m gonna do what I can to “fight the man” if you will. So..have you checked Perfume City recently? A little bird tweeted to me (cough cough) some good info.
After two adventure-like singles earlier in the year, Perfume hunker down and make some meat-and-taters techno-pop on “ねぇ.” This is Perfume, after two slippery main singles and two thrilling B-sides, reminding fans they can still drop a simple but satisfying track into the world. Like plenty of tracks the trio has done before, “ねぇ” wastes no time getting to the best part, leading off with a chorus that should be annoying considering it’s 90 percent the titular word but surprisingly solid. From there we get a bouncy chorus peppered by some electro-squiggles before hitting that sweet hook again…rinse and repeat. Producer/wizard Yasutaka Nakata fits in some interesting wrinkles – the glitchy pre-verse light show for one. Yet the real standout here is that simple but attention-grabbing beat, Nakata busting out the big cheesy 80s-evoking smacks for the main percussion while also working in some more bongo-lite business as well. After compiling a Sportscenter-Top-Ten worthy of slam dunks this year, “ねぇ” feels like a perfectly executed lay-up – not breathtaking but still damn good.
Video wise…which of course you can’t see…”ねぇ” isn’t terribly exciting, just the three members dancing around a green-screened city mostly to model whatever Natural Beauty Basic’s winter line features. But there is a cat!