By Anthony Mark Happel
This is an eight-song sampler (priced as a single), culled from five albums including the brand new, Songs That Spin in Circles, by the electronic art-pop duo made up of Shawn James Seymour and his wife, Yoshimi.
The two of them have been recording and releasing records in this same vein, from their home base in Nagaya, Japan, since 2002. They bill themselves as makers of “music for babies”, but this is so much more than that moniker might suggest. “A Mobile Over Your Bed” may be just a toy piano figure over what sounds like more tinkling keys, but when Yoshimi lays her angelic, floating vocal tones over it all it rises to the level of near-bliss.
“Bedroom Bossa Band” grooves on a bossa nova beat with Yoshimi doing exceptional work with the lilting meta-Yoko vocal parts. “Good Morning Melody” is promising twee-pop without a hint of irony. Some of this may seem light (read: lithe) and airy, but the impending lo-fi ambience is worth the wait on nearly every song.
The instrumental “Leaves Falling” is a swell jack-in-the-box twinkle, as Shawn explores the outer reaches of the Casio SK-1 sampling keyboard throughout the pleasurable ride into “Sleepy Town.” A quote from the press kit sums it all up thusly, “…if Eno had made Music For Airports for babies it might sound like this.”
