On their new self-titled Sub Pop album, CHAI play with our expectations. Using elements of their upbringing in Japan, the four women of CHAI combine those elements with dashes of American r'n'b, and electropop to offer up one of their most enjoyable releases to date.
"Matcha" sounds a little like TLC, while the sleek "From 1992" is up-to-date in its style. There's a hint of the sort of thing we'd hear in J-Pop (or K-Pop, for that matter) but CHAI keep things peppier and more organic in approach. This isn't so much the manufactured pop of now, but an updating of the kind of alt-pop we heard on Luscious Jackson and Kylie Minogue records back in, well, 1992. Elsewhere, the ebullient "Para Para" is exquisitely realized, catchy and full of pep. Inspired by the band's fascination with Tyler the Creator, the cut stands as one of the band's best, as does "Like, I Need" an atypical offering here.
CHAI reveals debts owed to the Nineties, both the J-Pop of it, the dances ("Para Para"), but also a kind of tribute sound to the pop that was largely global in the era. CHAI make music that's smarter than the stuff that it's being influenced by, sort of like The B-52's in that regard. And like those Athens, Ga. pioneers, there's an enormous sense of fun all throughout this band's work. CHAI is not meant to be dissected, but it's smartly put together, both lyrically and in terms of sonic construction. It's a delightful listen.
CHAI by CHAI is out now via Sub Pop.
[Photo: Kana Tarumi]