This year saw a first from techno-pop trio Perfume – a dud. “Mirai No Museum,” a song written for a Doraemon movie, was greeted with mostly shrugs and “ehhhhh, hope the next one is better” from the group’s usually rabid fanbase. It did alright sales wise, but failed to ignite even real hate from anyone – it was just sort of a disappointment. There have been a handful of Perfume singles that have split the fanbase – “Spending All My Time’s” glorious Calvin Harris impersonation springing right to mind – but this felt like a whiff everyone just wanted to move on from.
So that puts new single “Magic Of Love” in a weird position for Perfume – a highly anticipated track that seems extra important following a miscue. The group debuted this song on their radio show this week, and it might be a little too soon to tell whether this is a legitimately great song or it’s just so much better than what came before it I’m overrating it a bit. A whole bunch of spins, and I’m leaning towards the prior. “Magic Of Love” manages to retain the bright cyborg sound they’ve made their own, while Yasutaka Nakata adds enough intriguing details to make this more than just a solid Perfume single. The hook brings to mind Capsule’s “Step On The Floor,” but that’s not really a bad thing. Yet it’s what exists around the chorus that makes this great. The most noticeable moments come when Nakata pushes the members of Perfume away from the digital fuzz they are always splashed in and we here them just singing. He’s done this before – the climax of “Spice” being the best example – but it works well here. Less immediate is what Nakata does between verses, playing around more than usual with his electronics, like he’s just throwing vials full of rainbow-colored liquids into a pot and seeing what happens. “Magic Of Love” always seems to be changing in some small way…something the lockjawed “Mirai No Museum” failed at. Glad to have you back Perfume. Listen below.