Fans and followers of FILWAD might be familiar with the music of Shugo Tokumaru because of my post about his 2008 album, Exit, which is easily one of my favorite albums by an non-English speaking artist ever. People have often called Tokumaru the Japanese Sufjan Stevens, but this is not really a fair or obvious comparison for a few reasons: a) Sufjan Steven's most recent album, The Age of Adz, sounds nothing like the work of Tokumau or even most of Steven's previous work and b) Tokumaru is just cooler (not seriously), but I really find it ridiculous to compare musicians just because they both are multi-instrumentalists. There music is not even remotely similar, especially on Tokumaru's most recent release Port Entropy, where the music is quite, to quote Pitchfork's review, "chipper." "Chipper" is not a word that I would ever use to describe Sufjan Steven's mastery of sound.
I first heard "Rum Hee" on Tokumaru's Rum Hee EP and I always wanted to show it to the world and now that the song is also used on his new album, there is even more of an excuse to have the world give it a listen. "Rum Hee" is an absolutely perfect pop gem from start to finish. From the jangly guitars to the cute glockenshpiel chirping the melody, this song just screams out for attention with pure charm. Check it out!
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