Midori Hirano — LushRush

LushRush is full of wide eye emotional wonder, made by a mix of  piano, cello, violin, environmental sounds and beats- meet in a heart felt and often awkward union. Having a child like charm though out- that sometimes works other times comes off  a little wonky and out of focus.

Unlike a lot of projects that mix organic instruments and electronics, the focus here is on the instruments them self and found/environmental sounds ,that shuffling about beneath the music. Not the electronics which are really the third element here, with Midori muffled sing-song vocals as the second element. Though there are some quite ‘red rose shaking in hand’ beautiful moments. Too much  sounds a little to much like something else, nods towards a more cack-handed Sigr Ros emotional soar, or a Múm child like playroom melodies. And it also feels sometimes, almost a little amateurish- weather this is part of the attempt to make it sound more emotional or just lack of musically ability is unclear, sometimes it’s charming, but more often than not a little grating.

Really a mixed bag- that could have been so much better if more thought was given to the writing and structuring of the tracks, instead spending most of the running time trying to sound fragile and emotional.