Metro
30 October 2007

Layering sugary vocals over guitar drones, Asobi Seksu (Japanese slang for ‘playful sex’) are earning themselves a name as the darlings of the New York indie scene. Frontwoman Yuki Chikudate sings in Japanese and English, while James Hanna and Ben Shapiro create a wall of intense, throbbing sound in the background.

The Brooklyn-based band got together five years ago, and have been steadily building up a fan base in America. Recent album Citrus is a bittersweet mix of dreamy, floaty pop and tortured guitar and drums. It’s a poppier effort than their debut and the new tracks are bigger and more sophisticated, with more layers to sift through.

Thursday, a swelling, frustrated love song, was recently snapped up for the soundtrack to the US indie movie Flannel Pajamas. With remixes by CSS and The Whip, forthcoming single Strawberries distils the essence of Asobi Seksi so far, at turns harsh and tender.

Tonight, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow.
www.asobiseksu.com