KIKAGAKU MOYO
Kumoyo Island

All loves eventually come to an end. Some go down the drain, others are more like, we can just be friends.

A couple of decades is a perfectly respectable timeframe for a band's life, offering more than enough opportunities to establish a sound, develop it, achieve some success, and avoid complete separation, hoping this helps cement the desire to play and move forward.

The more time passes, entering the dusty timeline of the second decade, the more the swellings, stagnation, and mutual disdain begin to take shape, which can culminate in one-way tickets to nowhere.

It seems that Kikagaku Moyo is trying to avoid just this trap: after ten years together, the Japanese acid psych quintet is disbanding, with Kumoyo Island as their fifth album and swan song.

And in general, they create a beautiful way to conclude their adventure: Kumoyo Island is festive, petulant, persistent, evasive, dreamlike, and ultimately a true concentration of fun, full of Asian grooves and flaming, distorted, and overwhelming elements in the first half of Cardboard Pile, cleverly experimental cop-funk like Dancing Blue and Monaka, and exotic wave-shaped kosmische-tinged excursions with their cover of Meu Mar by bossa nova hero Erasmos Carlos. There are also the ritual clunky jams reminiscent of the playfulness of the Beta Band; Gomugomu is an intensely meditative final track, rich in textures and nervously explorative timbres that unfold with slight anxiety, closing the band's career with an unholy sense of calm after the dizzying 45-minute whirlwind that preceded it.

In short, peace be with you all.

Fundamentally, though, this is not just a genre raid by successful musicians playing dress-up.

Instead, Kumoyo Island draws its remarkable coherence from the personality of a cohesive and solid group, marked by subtle mischief and limitless exploration, combined with a sincere ardor that winds through all the tracks, making the album absolutely engaging.

This personality makes the imminent disappearance of Kikagaku Moyo even more bittersweet.

The creative personality enriching their music and interpretive style will be missed. On the other hand, ten years of rollercoaster experiments and Nazarene wigs are an excellent legacy to leave, and Kumoyo Island represents the end of a beautiful career, period.

The tolling of a gong marks the end of an era of 2010s psychedelia.