yume by Maison book girl (Album Review) ▸ J-Music Exchange/Rate
Hello and welcome back to another J-Music Exchange/Rate review! This one is actually a bit of a special one since this is the very first Exchange/Rate review on Substack!
In case you’re not familiar with what this is about: this is a segment I do with my good friend/fellow Japanese music fan Leap250 where we pick out an album from our respective libraries, give ‘em to each other and later review on our respective blogs. This is something that the both of us have been doing for three years now and while it certainly has been a good way for us to be exposed to more Japanese music/artists, we hope that it also helps all of you experience the same! (also definitely go check out the dedicated Exchange/Rate page to see all of the albums we’ve already talked about!)
And as always, Leap and I base our album choices on a specific theme each month. It was my turn this time around and considering that Christmas is right around the corner, I figured we’d do a theme that relates to the holiday season. That said, Leap and I based our choices on a Christmas/Secret Santa-type wish list that each of us have created. On these lists were things that we would want from an album, and the other person would need to pick a record that would fulfill every single wish on their list.
…hopefully that made sense. But to try to make it more clear, here is the wish list that I came up with for Leap:
something that was released in the year 2018
something that features a vocal unit
something that you’d listen to on a rainy day
That said, Leap took those three things and ended up narrowing his choice down to a 2018-released album titled yume, by the alternative idol group Maison book girl. While on the other hand, I tossed over Sayonara Ponytail’s Yumemiru Wakusei (I’m sure Leap will go over his personal wish list in his post).
Let’s jump right in!
Maison book girl was an all-female alternative Japanese idol group, formed in 2014. Produced by former BiS member Koshouji Megumi and musician Sakurai Kenta, the group consisted of four members (as of this album’s release): Yagawa Aoi, Inoue Yui, Wada Rin and Koshouji herself. Bukuga debuted in March of 2015 when they released their debut singles, “White” and “Black”, at their initial live shows. Their odd-yet-fascinating identity, consistently melancholic music and captivating live performances helped them gain some traction and ended up garnering a loyal fanbase. After years of releasing music and performing as a unit, Maison book girl unexpectedly announced their disbandment in May of 2021, following a one-man live performance in Chiba.
Within their almost seven year span, Maison book girl released four studio albums, a best album, an EP and six singles.
Tracklist
fMRI_TEST#2
kotoeri_ / 言選り_
SIX
Semai Monogatari / 狭い物語
MOVE
Boy Meets Girl / ボーイミーツガール
PAST
rooms_
MORE PAST
Juuroki-sai_ / 十六歳_
NIGHTMARE
Kage no Densha / 影の電車
fMRI_TEST#3
Yume / 夢
ELUDE
Raincoat to Kubi no Nai Tori / レインコートと首の無い鳥
YUME
Okaeri Sayonara / おかえりさよなら
GOOD NIGHT
Fujishi na Fuusen / 不思議な風船
fMRI_TEST #1
Released: 2018.11.21
I didn't have to dig too deep into my music library to find an album that fulfills all of the items on Al's Christmas/Secret Santa Wish List. At the very least, once I saw Maison book girl's yume come up after sorting my collection by release year, I knew I had to go with it. Came out in 2018? check Performed by a vocal unit? check. The main thing was whether or not it would be an album that you'd listen to on a rainy day. Except, of course, it couldn't have worked out any better as "rain" is for all intents and purposes one of the main themes used in yume as well as by 'Mbg' in terms of both their sound and their imagery.
Specifically what Mbg aims to portray with their music is that feeling of reading a book inside your room as the rain hits your window pane. Throughout the years that he had worked with the Alt. Idol group, producer Sakurai Kenta had mastered capturing not just the sound but the behavior of rain in that regard, resulting in what I consider to be the trademark pitter-patter-like rhythm that you hear in a lot of Mbg's songs (of course apart also from incorporating actual rain sounds in tracks like Raincoat to Kubi ni Nai Tori and Okaeri Sayonara).
Listening to yume too, in a lot of ways, feels like you're reading a book. Rather, I think it may have been designed as such, with each track having its own interlude spliced in between them making it so there's almost this narrative progression from one song to the next. While that in itself is a fairly unique listening experience, as a direct consequence of that, (and much like most decent books) it means that the album is a bit on the lengthier side. yume clocks in at over an hour of listening time which... can be a pretty daunting task, and I'd surmise could be one of the reasons people might shy away from even trying this album out; if Mbg's sound in general wasn't divisive enough already with the way their songs sound. I reckon yume's worth the time though and is about as good of a complete and total showcase of Maison book girl as there is.
1 ▸ maison book girl and the unique expression of yume
I may sound like a broken record at this point, but similar to a couple groups that Leap has suggested to me in the past (Yanakoto Sotto Mute and sora tob sakana), I always find these kinds of alternative or ‘unconventional’ idol groups to be fascinating. And I think the main reason why is because I still primarily, and ignorantly, connect the term ‘Japanese idols’ to units that show off that typical happy and bright imagery; and by looking at groups like the ones I previously mentioned or other units like CYNTH and tipToe., you really do get a much different perspective and understanding of how some people perceive the idol concept. Maison book girl in particular has been a super interesting group to learn about, as their mysterious and almost artsy identity is something I haven’t seen a ton of within the overall idolsphere. And if you want an incredible example of how unique this group is, MBG announced their sudden disbandment in one of the most creative and weirdly unsettling ways I’ve ever seen an artist handle something like this: by giving out a paper with a conspicuous URL after a live show, which led fans to a webpage that stated the words, ‘Maison book girl has been deleted’.
That being said, this unique representation of idols is not only shown in an aesthetic sense but it’s very much present within the music. And while music is almost seen as secondary compared to other aspects of this culture, I think Maison book girl, as well as their producer in Sakurai Kenta, seemed to really embrace this opportunity to show off who they are through their songs and compositions.
And I guess one way I can, sort of, expand on the ‘artsy’ and ‘mysterious’ characteristics that I mentioned earlier is right from beginning, as the album opens with a track titled “fMRI_TEST (#2)”, which entirely consists of sounds you’d hear from an MRI machine while it scans. This is just the first instance of some of the ‘songs’ that are featured on this album, and more so than anything, they seem to just add to the album’s overall atmosphere, as well as some being transitions into the main songs. I’ll talk more about this in a bit, but considering that essentially half of the entire album’s 21 song tracklist is just these interlude-like tracks, Maison book girl didn’t really waste any time in showing off what kind of album you’re about to get into.
2 ▸ alt idol at its finest
As for the actual songs themselves, the best way I can personally describe a lot of them is ‘different but familiar’. This goes back to my own perception of idols, and how I’m so used to the more mainstream image of Japanese idols where they’re much more bright, cutesy and just significantly more appealing to the masses. Definitely not throwing shade and saying that groups like Maison book girl are not ‘appealing’ (I can imagine they’ve attracted a great and loyal following that prefers a much different take on an idol group) but I think it’s pretty clear to most that this type of music isn’t something you’d expect when you hear that MBG is labeled as an ‘idol group’.
However compared to my observations of some of the other alt-idol groups I’ve talked about in the Exchange/Rate segment, especially sora tob sakana where I mentioned how they sounded more like a instrument-based band than an idol vocal unit, I didn’t really get that here with Maison book girl. While I’ll admit that my first couple listens of yume just didn’t hit for me, I gradually started to get some vibes that reminded me of other pop idol groups/songs I’ve listened to in the past. And I think the main reason why is because of its use of instruments and the idols’ vocal performances. Their wide variety of instruments, especially an emphasis on the violin, marimba and piano, made it feel more like a typical idol song composition; compared to the more traditional three-piece rock sound heard in sora tob sakana’s deep blue or Yanakoto Sotto Mute’s Beyond the Blue. In addition, the vocals from each member were pleasant to listen to and definitely fit well with the general mood of these tracks. Especially whenever they harmonize during the choruses and such, where it’s very much in line with how other idol groups sound like.
And I really did enjoy a good handful of songs on this album. “Cotoeri_” does exert a strange feeling due to all of these different instruments being mixed together, but still has an interesting and even approachable energy to it. The repeated and emphasized piano/violin melodies heard in “Boy Meets Girl” gives off a very hyper and wacky sound that’s honestly kinda fun to listen to. And “Kage no Densha” in particular was a favorite of mine for a few reasons, especially due to its inclusion of an acoustic guitar and how it actually paired really well with the particular vibe of MBG’s music.
But while MBG’s expression and use of variety with their instruments was done really well here, a big problem I noticed is that a lot of the songs on this album sounded pretty similar to each other. It felt like I was hearing the same melodies throughout, especially during my more recent listens, which did get a bit repetitive. This seems to be a common issue that a lot of people who are familiar with the group have had; even Leap mentioned so in one of his past roundups. And yeah, even with the interludes between each song, I will say that there were times where it all kinda meshed together and I wasn’t sure which track I was listening to specifically.
3 ▸ a bold move
Speaking of the ‘interlude songs’, a lot of the ones that actually contained music in them were nice in their own right. As I said earlier, they definitely added to the mysterious and eerie atmosphere of this album, such as beautiful piano playing in “SIX” or the peculiar xylophone-based track in “PAST” with the nice and definitely-not-spooky addition of that screeching door sound effect towards the end. In fact, many of them did a solid job setting up for the next song and helping us ease into whatever’s next in the tracklist…
…however, alternating between an actual music composition and these interlude-type tracks; while I most certainly don’t think it was a ‘bad idea’ to do this, it makes me wonder whether or not the casual music listener or someone who just randomly stumbled upon this album would enjoy the specific format of yume. While a lot of these interval tracks are pretty short in runtime, there are so many that it’s easy to imagine a handful of people wanting to skip over the minute-plus of continuous beeping in “fMRI_TEST (#3)” or the train noises in “NIGHTMARE”. Even speaking from personal experience, there were certain instances where I kinda just wanted to listen to the actual songs rather than sit through, for example, the fairly drawn-out and mundane nature of “ELUDE”. I do understand that going through the entire tracklist is probably the best way to experience this album but I dunno… it almost feels like a momentum stopper at times, especially when you’re wanting to hear more of the vocal performances in succession.
Like I’ve said multiple times in this review: being someone who doesn’t normally listen to these ‘alt-idol groups’, it’s always an interesting experience whenever I do get the chance to hear the kind of music they put out. It feels like the boundaries of what an idol is/can be have been stretched, and you gain a much better perspective on the culture… at least, that’s how I’ve looked at it (lol). And for sure, listening to this Maison book girl album definitely felt eye-opening at times. Just hearing some really fascinating performances and compositions that were new to me, and seeing how everything comes together within this unique track sequence was certainly enjoyable (and appropriate to put on during a rainy day, especially when listening to some of the interludes).
But at the same time, I would imagine that it’d be hard to sell this album to your average idol fan. And I’m not only referring to the significant change in tone that Maison book girl gives off, but the fact that this is a lengthy 21-song album and considering the specific way it's organized… I just feel like there’s a pretty big chance that many would become turned off by what’s going on here in yume (heck, I felt that during my first few times going through it). And while I do understand why this may be the case, I would still say that it’s totally worth checking out at least once. There are many songs on here that are genuinely engaging to listen to and it can be interesting to experience something that may be ‘out of your comfort zone’, especially since this is a cool take on a ‘concept album’ from an idol group of all things.
Rating: 7.25/10
Aaaand that’s all I got for you today!
This was a wild album to review (lol). As much as I don’t really dive into these types of groups, Maison book girl seemed like a very talented unit that really cared about their craft, and it’s hard not to give them some appreciation for that. Also hope my assessment of this album wasn’t too terrible :P
That being said, definitely go check out what Leap had to say about the album I gave him for this month: Yumemiru Wakusei by Sayonara Ponytail! SayoPony’s a group that I discovered earlier this year and I’ve enjoyed a lot of their music, so click here to read his review!
Lastly, we’re somehow already at the end of 2023 and as always with the Exchange/Rate segment, next month Leap and I will be talking about/reviewing each other’s favorite albums from the past year. I’m excited to share my pick with him, as well as finding out what he chose, so definitely stay tuned for that!
Also, I’m not sure what I’ll be posting during the month of December (other than my yearly song roundup) so we’ll see! Hopefully I’ll come up with some good ideas.
Thanks for reading!! :D
-al