Chatmonchy: Kokuhaku

Chatmonchy
Kokuhaku
Ki/oon
2010-03-02

Over at the English-language Chatmonchy forum, they’ve got a thread asking, “Why do u love chatmonchy?” One person loves them because Japanese all-woman bands are cute. Several love the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Eriko Hashimoto. Another steps in to tell everyone not to forget the other two band members, a bass guitarist and a drummer. Elsewhere someone is fretting because their friends think Chatmonchy is a band for young teens. They say it lacks the adult dignity of Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. It is true that Kokuhaku, with its confident pounding rock, somewhere between mainstream and alternative, is more sociable than the work of the abrasive Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. The drums and guitars are forthright but not harsh — hard but not angry. Hashimoto’s voice combines stadium power with a faintly breathless dainty cuteness. If I loved Chatmonchy — I like them, but you couldn’t call it love — anyway, if I loved Chatmonchy, it’s the collaboration between that voice and the hammering instruments behind her that would get my vote.

RATING 5 / 10