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WINK

Spike Sidor
Chai Wink Review Album Cover

CHAI

2021 LEFT FIELD POP 

Wink is the third full length release from Japanese girl rock and pop group Chai. Labelling them as strictly a pop group is disingenuous, when Japanese and pop are uttered in the same sentence it’s easy to think of the scintillating bubblegum sounds of acts like Perfume or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. On prior releases they were more of a quirky rock group with a punk twist, now they are a quirky pop group with a post-punk twist, not a complete reinvention of the band, some elements are in greater focus and some less so. It feels like a very natural progression. This line of statements often leads to a declaration that the subject has found their intended sonic space, that the stars have aligned for Chai to put out a brilliant effervescent vision like no other, but in this case that would be the ass-licking of the modern reviewer’s tendency for over-embellishment; a desperate lunge for a pull quote. Still, all shit-talking aside, Chai are moving in the right direction, but they struggle to maintain the quality they are capable of on the whole of Wink.

The lead track, also the lead single, also a good track to summarize the positive points of the record, how convenient. Mid-paced, zany synths that come in a variety of flavors from a slow trip through puffy clouds to low-end bit chiptune, high-pitched, reverb soaked vocals predominantly in English, analogous to Satomi of Deerhoof for the underground educated. Even its title, Donuts Mind If I Do,  delivers on its namesake with an irresistibly goofy time, lyrics about being in love with donuts  and an instrumental that is as fluffy and sweet as a good cream filling. Then the immediate follow up, Maybe Chocolate Chips, is a demonstration of where this record can go wrong. A snoozer of an instrumental that declaws their oddball infectiousness. A groaner done up in R&B fashion with an utterly garden variety rap feature. It has that feel of a record executive saying “this album really needs a bit of that hip hop that is so in these days. How can we shoehorn it in?”

At least the parade of singles rights itself with ACTION. Metallic grooves swerve their shoulders with mild sensuality. Every section of this track has catchy immediacy, from the first refrain, to the last belting of the chorus. The first taste of deep cuts begins well with the frenetic percussion heavy END. Highly repetitive and straddling the line of entertainment and annoyance, it burns fast and bows out before its hand is overplayed with only a two minute run time. Chai goes heavy chiptune with PING PONG whose instrumental sounds like it could be off the soundtrack of an NES game. It’s a perfect pairing with their complete irreverence for seriousness. The style shifts again with excellent results on, Nobody Knows We Are Fun, spacey and bassy, shades on, feet up, shrug and snap your fingers. 

Uh, wow, oh my gosh
Nobody knows we are fun
This is a big issue

Big grin. Vitamin C is another smile maker, bright keys, whirring synths, and the kind of simplistic lyricism that has been the hallmark of the record. Vitamin C is good for you! Be Healthy! IN PINK is a let down, half the track is taken up with a guest singer who is serviceable but with no charisma, no adorable charm, he takes their lyrics and instead of freewheeling fun he comes off banal and childish. The nosedive doesn’t stop there, KARAAGE, a bland knockoff of their own slower material. It tries to pull off a sultry shuffle but instead of catching oglers it gets mild indifference. Bouncing synths dot Miracle but the instrumental as a whole is serviceable at best and the vocals don’t blend well into the mix, when they reach into higher register they annoy and on the more understated takes they bore, another hard miss. What’s to say about Wish Upon a Star, regardless of the number of listens it can barely stick in my mind, painfully toothless, frustratingly devoid of intrigue .

The record whimpers out of existence with a closer designed to be a closer, its slow and has the girls literally saying “bye-bye”, maybe under different circumstances I could enjoy this but the lackluster string of tracks makes this feel like saying “and that’s it” at the end of a poorly refreshed high school presentation. At its conclusion WINK feels like a letdown. At only thirty five minutes what does that leave us with? A great EP if they cut some fluff, and a LP of splotchy quality that leaves a sour aftertaste, making me crave those few delectable bites but with a strong hesitancy to see its finish. 

5-6/10

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