Pep In Your Step: Hirihiri’s “Hirahira”

A big theme we return to around these parts is how welcome energy can be in music — even if an artist isn’t really imprinting anything new onto a style, sometimes a really fast tempo is all that is needed to get us perked up and enjoying it. Producer Hirihiri’s first album Hirahira isn’t quite that. They add in a lot of great personal touches to these “future bass” songs that elevates it beyond simpler sugared-up imitation. Check the guitar lines and Speak N Spell voice serving as a main vocal on the playful “You Know How To Spell,” which imagines what SoundCloud Shibuya-kei could sound like. Or the softer passages of “Va11halla,” which quickly give way to squeaky stretches of noise upping the drama up. Or check the funky bounce of the closer “Long Gone,” even if the Birdman sample should have been ditched (though, still! An example of personality). Plenty of character here, but even the numbers that sound like well-worn territory deliver the right blast of energy to get you going. Get it here, or listen below.