In the almost 3 years since Osaka duo yonige released their major label debut, and still very highly regarded to this day, album “girls like girls” quite a lot has happened, with a headline show at the famous Nippon Budokan perhaps being the biggest highlight of the band’s runaway success. Following up on all of that was always going to be difficult but their second album “Kenzen na Shakai” shows the kind of growth and maturing that one would expect from two young adults trying to navigate all of the pitfalls of life in your mid-20s. The raw, at times frantic nature of the group’s debut has for the most part been replaced with a more nuanced, introspective Pop sound that while certainly different feels like a very natural progression to take things in. Personal highlights for me include “Koko Janai Basho” for its warm guitar melodies and catchy bass riffs and “Oujougiwa” for its raw, passionate vocal performance. You can’t really go wrong with any of the songs featured here though if you’re looking for thoughtful, still very much grounded Pop tunes from a band that could so easily have been swallowed up by their success like many others before them.
