How do I get Ikkyu Nakajima's pink denim jacket? Its yellow, green and orange splatter seemingly saunters out of a Shozo Shimamoto painting into this Tricot video directed by Yasuyuki Yamaguchi, who has worked with a wide array of Japanese artists like Lili Limit, Shintaro Sakamoto and Dir en Grey. The meticulously painted set — complete with shadows and amps brushed into the background — picks up on the Kyoto band's brilliantly colored math-rock, its hooks popping into view like neon splashes against a canvas.
Following last year's 3 (and just U.S.-reissued albums T H E and A N D), "Potage" comes from a new double A-sided 7". The guitar interplay between vocalist Ikkyu Nakajima and Kida Motifour is built on start-stop riffs that recall American Football, but Tricot's seamless time signature flips are ruptured just briefly by electronic jitters and a funky breakdown led by bassist Hiromi Hirohiro and new drummer Yusuke Yoshia. Nakajima's smooth delivery grounds Tricot's dexterous yet immediately accessible music with longing, singing (in lyrics that appear in the video, roughly translated to English), "When you will cut your hair / I want you to hear my complexion."
"Potage" b/w "On the Boom" is out now via Topshelf Records (U.S.) and Bakurestu Records (Japan). Tricot starts a U.S. tour on May 24.
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