New The Moments: Faraway EP

Indie-pop in Japan has, without a doubt, reached a bit of a bubble phase at this point. In late 2013, there are just so many outfits leaning towards the twee side of the indie-rock spectrum…and new ones pop up all the time online. The question now is, “what are they aiming for?” There have been exceptions, but at times this year it feels like Japan’s indie-pop scene has resigned itself to being a glorified social club, wherein bands simply are content performing for one another instead of trying to reach new people and push their artistic skills further than before. Nothing wrong with this mindset at all, but it’s resulting in a lot of so-so music just not really worth writing about it.

The Moments find themselves in an interesting position with the release of new two-song EP Faraway. This Nagoya outfit were one of the groups at the very outset of this indie-pop boom, and their “Short Trip” remains one of the best cuts to emerge from this period. Their new duo of tracks build off the galloping, guitar-centric approach established on “Short Trip,” to the point that the title track sounds like a very bare mutation of “Short Trip,” complete with vocals that sound like they could have come off a Field Mice 7″. Same goes for “Drift,” which isn’t quite as fast out the gate, but features a guitar line that brings to mind…well, something we already mentioned.

Here’s the dilemma – these two songs are plenty good. They are catchy, and highlight everything good about The Moments that we’ve already known. They just aren’t daring…which you can’t hold against the songs that did end up in the world. Yet like indie-pop as a whole in Japan circa 2013, it all seems a little too content to be pleasant, a little too reserved in trying to break forward. Get it here.