ASOBI SEKSU
Rewolf - POLYVINYL
FILTER Grade: 77%

A snatched series of recordings from a spare studio day, Rewolf provides another side to the New York noise balladeers. Though Rewolf proves Asobi’s songs work when they are stripped back acoustic renditions, ultimately, this album creates a stabbing sense of nostalgia for the majestic full-studio recordings. By its very nature, the sonic range is reduced and the vocals sit tightly in the piano and acoustic guitar lines, as in “Blind Little Rain,” where the vocal movement is as playful as it is devastating with Yuki’s ghostly callings. In “Gliss,” with its chimes and xylophones, the tense, haunting excitement of the original is mostly thwarted as the intimacy of a spirit momentarily turning into flesh flashes before losing all its danger. Similarly, “Familiar Light” and “Thursday” are charming, but once you’ve been haunted, an endearing smile fails to excite.