Kahimi Karie
Trapeziste

"Marinetti eats spaghetti/Giorgio Dechirico drinks cappuccinos..." do you remember this song? That song that used samples from the honking horn of the film "Il Sorpasso" and declared with a childish voice "I want to have sex/Make love/With the boys of Trastevere...".

Well, this is "Una Giapponese A Roma", the cult-trash song by Kahimi Karie, a Japanese girl who declared her love for our country through a very ungrammatical Italian text. It was a cheerful song, one that lifted spirits, yet in our country, we know her practically only for that piece, while in France and Japan she is an icon. She has all it takes to become a sex symbol, as beautiful as she is, and possessing a French Lolita-like voice, able to serve as a sonic backdrop for particularly special and languid evenings.

This album, "Trapeziste" (whose cover... yum... yum) is practically sung entirely in French and is very far from the frivolous and pop sounds of "Una Giapponese A Roma", literally surprising in a mix of genres and heterogeneous tastes that never leave a bitter aftertaste: even the track lengths don’t contribute to flattening the album, making it boring. It starts with "Tornado Outside", an ambient stroke of genius that reproduces space sounds so similar to those produced by Air in "Moon Safari" that it seems like plagiarism. However, the song is successful and Kahimi commands the scene as only she can: through languid sighs and that exciting little voice. Then, we reach the title track: seven minutes of free-jazz-electronic schizophrenia, where finally the girl speeds up the tempo and raises her voice. The cover of the classic "Habanera" is enjoyable, performed with a modern touch and downtempo charm. Both "Sleep" and "Tornado Inside" prove to be excellent, almost masterpieces: the first piece is a storm of digitalism upon which Kahimi Karie manages to thrill with her voice that becomes aggressive, and in the second, it's the instrumental electronics that take over, where the girl’s voice appears here and there, creating a truly enviable kaleidoscope of sounds.

Less successful, however, are "Lexie", which is an odd live incursion featuring an unremarkable jazz performance, and "Au Marche De Saint-Ouen", an acoustic ditty where Kaire’s voice is completely lost in an unlistenable array of concrete music noises. Delirious is "Je Veux Un Vieux", where it’s hard to tell if you should applaud or throw tomatoes: it's a stroke of genius that sounds like Louis Armstrong under the influence of acid but not interesting enough to listen to a second time.

A very successful album full of personality, showcasing all the talent of a star who deserves more attention even from our parts.