Tarah Kikuchi :: Science EP

Tokyo based Tarah Kikuchi is by turns throwback and on-trend. His homespun recordings feel snug, warm and familiar. Songs like “Railgun Girl” reside in a sweet spot between Hosono and Demarco, but it’s when he ventures out from that place of comfort, sonically, on a track like “Veronica,” the results feel especially inspired. High-pitched harmonies hop over Os Mutantes grooves as Kikuchi’s palette veers into pop-bop. If that all sounds a bit like Beck’s Tropicalia that’s because it does, in the most welcome way.