Polyvinyl Records
2009
Hush
About This Album
Sometime during the touring cycle that followed the release of their 2006 record Citrus, Asobi Seksu's guitar player and the architect of their impressively layered neo-shoegaze sound, James Hanna, told his partner in the band, singer Yuki Chikudate, that he was sick of guitars and wanted to do something different. Fast forward to their 2008 release Hush and the band, now down to a duo, has dismantled the wall of guitars and gone in a new direction. Where once there were layered guitars, buried vocals, and tons of loud effects, now there are icy synths, precise arrangements, and upfront vocals. It's kind of a daring move seeing how the noisy shoegaze sound was quite popular at the time, it's also daring because if you strip away the guitars and noise you are left with songs, and if they are weak, the album is going to be weak. Luckily, the songs on Hush are for the most part quite strong and emotionally powerful. Even without the thrilling rush of sonic hail, a tune like "Me & Mary" will get your blood rushing. The dreamy "I Can't See" doesn't need to be buried under the rubble of 100 amps to be a melancholy heartbreaker. Hanna never makes the critical mistake of simply subtracting the guitars without adding something equally important.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5,7,8 and 10)

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