Gearing up for a new tour and a new album after last year's Best Of compilation, Supercar continue in their quest to become the new Yellow Magic Orchestra, aping both the title and the toothbrush sleeve motif of their illustrious predecessors' 1981 album. Shame then that they stopped short of writing their own "Cue", instead treating us to this pleasant but unremarkable exercise in treading water.

Following on from February's "Recreation" it makes good use of the experience brought to the table by guitarist/vocalist Koji Nakamura and drummer Kodai Tazawa's electronic experiments with Nyantora and aM respectively but lacking any truly memorable hooks or melody and coupled with the U2esque too-much-echo production and Nakamura's tired sounding vocals it never really rises above the level of insomnia cure.

On a more positive note, B-side "Hirameki Inspiration" cranks up the power a bit, doing away with dreamy noodling and installing a thumping krautrock beat. It's also worth noting that Supercar albums tend to alternate between weary easy-listening and soaring epic 75-minute monsters. Last album proper, "HighVision" was the first kind so fingers crossed eh? -Ian Martin, Nov.30.03

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