Description
We might forget it in this age of widespread simplification, but a successful pop music record often hides a complex architecture, with their debut album, the aptly named Prototype, Bleu Shinobi return to the ambition and mad freedom of the golden age of pop music, while injecting a healthy dose of modernity. This is expressed in a voracious appetite for a multitude of influences that goes beyond the spiritual fathers we're sure to think of, Beatles and Beach Boys first and foremost. Between the lines of Bleu Shinobi's repertoire, we find the rhythmic coolness of jazz and the evocative power of psychedelic rock.
Make no mistake, Bleu Shinobi is a pop band par excellence, in love with melodies and rich, never flashy arrangements that serve the songs above all else. Their songs are written and recorded as invitations to travel. We meet a man in a meteorite, another looking for his home, a woman who satisfies her immortality by partying, or a pirate who can't swim.
After Daydreaming, their acclaimed debut E.P. in 2021, the Touraine-based band's Prototype is an accomplished and personal work, nourished by collaborations and a collective approach to composition. Twelve tracks that veer between melancholy balladry, sunny rock, post-yeye, sometimes airy, sometimes rebellious vocals, chamber pop revised to maximalist taste. It's hard to know what to dance to, what time zone you're in, and you simply give in to this mix of obviousness, emotion and hedonism steeped in sincerity. Bleu Shinobi is an active member of the Telecascade collective in Touraine, alongside the groups Anna, Jean Vivier, Coconut and Leni, 15 musicians with a free, collaborative approach.