Beginning with the release of their 2017 debut EP on netlabel
Maltine Records
,
Hakushi Hasegawa
has established a truly distinctive sound mixing jazzy sophistication, whirlwind breakbeats, and giddy yet tender melodies, somehow finding a balance between chaotic excess and direct expression. Appearances on virtual events hosted by
Porter Robinson
and
Flying Lotus
gained the artist an expanded international audience, and
Hasegawa
became the first Japanese signee to
FlyLo
's
Brainfeeder
label. Along with reissues of 2018's
Somoku Hodo
EP and 2019's
Air Ni Ni
, two of
's most acclaimed releases,
delivered second full-length
Mah¿gakk¿
in 2024. Every bit as complex, overwhelming, and exciting as their previous efforts,
incorporates the impossibly fast rhythms of breakcore and singeli into finely tuned art-pop songs with clear, smooth vocals. Opener "Departed" is harsh and pummelling yet bursting with glee, and "Gone" elevates its most intense passage with breathless raps by
KID FRESINO
, while "Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)" winds catchy melodies and vocal harmonies through a storm of interlocked drums. Gliding strings and delicate pianos frame the album's lighter selections, "Repeal (Tekkai)" and "Forbidden Thing (Kimmotsu)," while "The Blossom and the Thunder" appropriately juxtaposes lush beauty with jarring interruptions and tripped-out griminess. "KY¿FUNOHOSHI" is an ecstatic tornado of brass fanfares, airhorns, mutated trap beats, and explosive, punishing drums. It's miles away from the childlike avant-folk of "Boy's Texture," featuring unhinged backing vocals that somehow equally bring to mind
Playboi Carti
and early
Animal Collective
, yet both feel like they could've only come from the same mind. Like
's previous efforts,
is an inventive, genre-obliterating release that demonstrates the artist's mastery of hyper-technical yet exhilarating songcraft. ~ Paul Simpson