Zigs And Zags: Ayutthaya’s “Mottainai”

It’s way too easy to draw comparisons between Ayutthaya and tricot, to the point where it should feel kinda like a trap. And…it is! At least for the most part. The trio put out their first EP last year, Good Morning, a set moving from chugging rock recalling American Football and similar ’90s groups (“Grapefruits”) to zippier numbers (“Kufuku”). “Mottainai” finds them stretching their sound out a bit more, plotting out guitar lines a bit more clearly and utilizing repetition more to musical affect. Most notably, the vocals come the chorus loop the titular word over and over again, adding a dreamy touch to a band whose music was pretty tactile up to this point. So yeah…on paper sounds a lot like tricot, but “Mottainai” excels thanks more to space than displays of skill, with the whole song a little more understated, and for the better. That is until the final stretch, when Ayutthaya let the song burst open and lead singer Mio Ohta cuts loose and lets the emotion pour out. Which, is pretty tricot-like…but done in a way that suits them, with the same impact. Listen above.