Off-Balance Teamwork: Mirai:mi’s “2014th Years Girl”

Uh oh, take a look at the calendar and brace yourself…2014 is almost over, and that means the barrage of year-end lists is imminent (the backlash against them has already started!). One of the Japanese artists who will be populating our hypothetical top-tens is Metronori, a Tokyo bedroom producer who made a huge leap forward in 2014 and released some truly enveloping music. And now she’s part of a new project called Mirai:mi, which finds her teaming up with producer So-Utsu-Tengoku to make wobbly pop right up her alley. There first song, “2014th Years Girl,” is a bit more focused than Metronori’s solo works – whereas her songs take all sorts of turns and sometimes sound like they are trying to hide under a bed, this one woozes straight ahead on synths and a rinky-dink beat. Even Metronori’s singing sounds focused and clear – but, owing to these two coming from a more experimental background, there are plenty of off-kilter touches to make this far from normal. Listen above.