SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HALF JAPANESE – JUMP INTO LOVE

HALF JAPANESE
JUMP INTO LOVE
FIRE RECORDS

Half Japanese has been around since the ‘70s and since then has become a cult favourite among the indie rock and punk scene, with even Kurt Cobain being a huge fan of the band. Their latest album, Jump Into Love, is average and does not live up to their cult status.

“Zombie World” is soft rock at its finest and features a haunting acoustic guitar. It is by far the best track and is one of the lone bright spots. It does a fantastic job of encapsulating an apocalyptic world full of zombies. It is dark, eerie, and full of gloom and dread.

Unfortunately, the instrumentation is incredibly underwhelming and super repetitive. Jump Into Love starts out quite well with the weirdly hypnotic tune “It’s Ok”. This fever dream of a track excites you for what is to come. The track contains wild and chaotic energy, crazy drumming, and bizarre guitars. No other track can match the intensity of “It’s Ok” or the perfection of “Zombie World”. The rest of the album is not nearly as experimental, haunting, noisy, or punk enough to keep the listener engaged and ends up being lackluster.

“This Isn’t Funny” has a great riff, but nothing comes of it, and the track ends up being quite bland. “Shining Stars” is a skip-worthy track. Nothing interesting is happening throughout, and it just feels like a ‘filler song.’ “Shining Sun” has a cool combination of country and punk, and the guitars have some nice ‘twang’ to them, but it is not very memorable. “Listen To The Bells Chime” has some electrifying stuff happening in the chorus, and the bass is super groovy, but the track greatly overstays its welcome.

Lyrically, Half Japanese tackle things such as love, life, and giants, but for the most part, they do not have much substance to offer about these things. Their grim lyrics of “Zombie World” is the only track that actually has some insight.

Listening to the entirety of the album feels underwhelming. Unfortunately, Half Japanese fails to create reach the level of quality that Ween, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, or They Might Be Giants do, who produce experimental, avant-garde, or punk songs with much better results.

Overall, Jump Into Love is not worth your time unless you are already a fan of the band.

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