Description

1LP Vinyl – HRLP 143

Shimizu's 1988 album, Dementos, is his unabashed pop peak of that decade, but even here he shared the spotlight. The Japanese artist, then living in Paris, recorded the album in the UK and brought in Tears For Fears' drummer Manny Elias, the percussionist Pandit Dinesh, who had worked with Thompson Twins and Heaven 17, and Flying Lizards' David Cunningham, who has since collaborated with Shimizu into the 21st century. He also recruited his sister, Mieko, and recorded her engaging in "hours of idle talk." These collaborators nurtured Dementos' adventurous musical approach. One moment, you'll be cast adrift in Japanese new age, only for the song to break into a pop tune both thunderous and funky. The title track is quirky enough in its rhythms and melody to suggest that Shimizu might have been able to pull off the Japanese version of Talking Heads. The suave backdrop of "I'm Dying For Love" is plush enough to recall late Roxy Music. Cunningham's peculiar touch comes to the fore on "Find No Word To Say," his syllabic splicing in the intro dovetailing nicely with Shimizu's saxophone. When the voices of Berbadette Mordi, Mal Henry and Mieko are added to the mix, the sax now darting amid their wordless sounds, it makes for a discombobulating peak.