Cornelius
Sensuous
Warner Music Japan

I've been waiting a long, long time for another Cornelius record! Cornelius, or Keigo Oyamada, is a multi-instrumentalist and an artist with a multi-coloured mind of creative output indeed. Sometimes, somewhat misleadingly tagged as a "Japanese Beck". Cornelius is that - and much more. He's a far more electronic artist than Beck, and his playful, whimsical cut'n'paste technique is both thrilling and dizzying at the same time. Sensuous, uh? Meaning a more sensual mixture this time, or what?

Sensuous was released some 3 months ago in his home country (plus Australia), and will soon be available in Europe and the US as well I guess. Expectations are great after the fantastic pop-voyage Fantasma (Trattoria 1997, re-released in the USA by Matador in 1998) and the to-the-point Point (Trattoria/Matador 2002). The album starts very quiet, almost abstract. And it continues. What's this, then? "La musique du 21º siecle", is put up in addition to its title on the cover sheet. The music turns into club-mixture travelling. And I start to feel a bit bored. Then, suddenly, with song six - "Gum" - Cornelius shows his good old humour and maybe nodding towards his hard rocking heroes. "Omstart" (meaning Re-start) is co-written with Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience. I'm not a big fan of theirs, but this is a very fine song, with Erlend and Eirik joining Cornelius on vocals. Keigo has written most of his own material, but two other tracks are made in collaboration with others. Closing track "Sleep Warm" is in fact a cover song, done by gangster crooners Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in the late 1950s! A cheesy "good night, sleep well song" from Cornelius, who's quite some different cat than Dino & Frankie. The song's still cheesy, not as classy as when he did "Aquarela do Brasil" on Point.

Sensuous is disappointing. The second last track, "Music" is maybe the most interesting song, besides the mentioned "Gum" and "Omstart". But, they're just slightly entertaining for the moment I'm afraid. Sensuous seems a bit out unfocused. Making me go find Fantasma and Point.

Copyright © 2007 Håvard Oppøyen