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CD
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LACIES 001CD
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Originally released in 2008. Equally indebted to the progressive J-pop of Piana and the sonic template set out by Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir-era múm, Meso Meso is the solo project of a young lady from Tokyo named Yumiko, a musician whose whispered songcraft is unassuming to the point of outright shyness, occasionally occupying the same terrifyingly twee musical no-fly zone as the likes of Lullatone. Musically, Meso Meso's universe is inhabited by glockenspiels, accordion, melodica and toy pianos, all skillfully-arranged around her bashfully quiet vocals. At times, her voice sounds as if it's been recorded in the middle of a nap, particularly on second track "Danro," a musical sleepwalk led by gorgeously plodding acoustic guitar, but ultimately characterized by that implausibly delicate singing voice. Even at its most boisterous, Mitten is the very embodiment of understatement, jangling mellifluously through the melange of sampled recordings and bric-a-brac that makes up the opening cut "Alice," which comes as close to conventional pop music as any of the other charmingly shambolic meanderings on this beguiling album. Really quite adorable music that offsets over-preciousness with an undercurrent of secret, eccentric soulfulness.
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