Manga aficionados found out about Kodama—those malicious tree spirits—from Miyazaki’s films. Thus the musical duo has chosen the mysterious and the natural, but their music’s jazz/electro fusion reveals a voluntary tension between the product and the method. This second EP offers confirmation, combining the soaring vibe of trip hop with jazz improvisations à la Hiatus Kaiyote or Jazzanova. “Jam with Soseki” perfectly illustrates this state of mind. It’s likely an allusion to Natsume Soseki, the 19th-century novelist who prefigured Japanese cultural hybridization with the West. Thomas Hugenel officiates on bass, and Kiala Ogawa applies her soulful voice to the compositions. Fortified by her multicultural identity as a Franco-Japanese born to an African father who was Fela Kuti’s guitarist for a time, the singer globalizes Hugenel’s funk. This has produced a very enjoyable electro-groove cover of “Water No Get Enemy.”
