JPNSGRLS – ‘Divorce’

Hailing from Japans futuristic capital city of Tokyo, these ladies are rewriting the laws on all things J-pop. Okay, that was a slight fabrication of the truth, JPNSGRLS are in actual fact: four dudes from Vancouver that play kick ass rock music. Tours with the likes of Turbowolf and Allusondrugs tell you exactly what world they populate.

First single ‘Oh My God’ is an enthralling few minutes, kicking off with singer Charlie Kerr simply yelling ‘Oh My God’. Much like the whole album it’s stacked with pace, another feature constant throughout the record is the cleverly written and witty lyrics. On this track a standout is defiantly “Our ghosts should really hang out when we croak”, not to be outdone, in the song ‘Trojan Horse’ Kerr seems to have some top pretty ambitious life goals, “I wanna drop outta school and rap (cool), I see a real future in that”. Incredible scenes.

The conflicting styles of Arctic Monkeys (considerably less of the Sheffield-ness of course) and Chon aren’t often banded together, but with a passion for melody, power and technicality that is exactly what JPNSGRLS have done. Constantly reassessing the sound is something the listener is forced to do. Creating indie emblazoned rock n roll with balls the size of Canada seems to be an elementary exercise for JPNSGRLS.

‘Circulations’, the band’s first album, saw moderate success throughout the US and Canada, even venturing to the UK for a handful of appearances. With this album bolstering their discography with yet more infectious tunes, if these dudes don’t rise to the top pretty sharpish then there is something seriously wrong.

LEW TROTT