9/10
19.6.23 some more thoughts, almost a month since the release date:
initially i preferred PLMS, due to 「e o」’s anti-groove tendencies. my mind has changed though… nowadays i seem to enjoy 「e o」 a lot more. the atmosphere is overwhelming… the production is sublime, the music is out of this reality.
5.6.23 review (archive)
With each album release, Cero has undergone metamorphosis.
The Japanese fusion band’s 2018 work – Poly Life Multi Soul (PLMS) was almost unrecognisable from their previous output. The album rendered the passage of time, from dusk till night, in dreamlike sequences. Energetic bossa-nova grooves, warm synths/guitars, and intricate jazz harmonies form a mellow and surreal soundscape underpinned by shibuya-kei aesthetics. PLMS explored a transitory state between worlds, dusk and evening, wakefulness and dreaming.
「e o」 is Cero’s follow-up to PLMS. With singles being trickled out since 2020, the 2023 album reflects a renewed artistic vision.
Fdf was the first single released in 2020, a cosmic-funk hit featuring lively horns and colourful cascading synths. The bright melody and whimsical percussion against a sonic void is an unexpected but welcome stylistic shift from plms’s synth-washed roots.
In August 2021, the single nemesis was revealed. It opens with glistening vocals from Shohei Takagi and muted, staccato keys. Sparse drums and synth arpeggios follow; the song blossoms with a radiant electric guitar solo from Tsubasa Hashimoto. Like fdf, nemesis features a brightly textured production – despite which, the presence of “negative space” is just as prominent, becoming akin to outer space as one roams amidst the funk-infused sonic cosmos.
For me fdf and nemesis were a mood reset. The upbeat funk influences and imagery of outer space was a total departure from the grounded, mellowness of PLMS. In particular, nemesis’s release truly affirmed Cero’s exploration of a new, celestial soundscape. Personally I found fdf so charming that it was and remains one of my favourite songs of all time.
In 2022 there were two singles, cupola and fuha. Sun-drenched guitar/synths and silky vocals from Takagi paint a familiar and earthy ambiance; they might be a more cerebral take on PLMS’ mellow grooves. The tracks are meticulously produced to the point of displaying a sterile quality, where the even mundane becomes extraterrestrial.
Finally,「e o」 was released on 24 May 2023 with 11 total tracks. Epigraph is a gentle opener. Takagi’s voice melts into nostalgic strings and warm guitar riffs, while drums splatter in the back. Nemesis follows, setting the scene with cosmic grandeur. Tableaux switches back to introspection with cool, jazzy keys; the horn “chirps” near its end brings life to the strange creatures of flight being pondered on in the lyrics. Hitode no umi builds on this atmosphere with flowing vocals and crisp percussion. The pair of singles then follow — fuha and cupola feel much more digestible within the context of the album, brimming with nostalgia and an otherworldly light. Evening news is soulful; its lullaby-like piano resembles a night sky, the sparkling synth notes that pop out later are like stars. For me it intensified the sense of isolation one feels when looking at the album cover.
The singles released previously have been marked as the (e o) version in the album, with minor changes made to each track so far. This was not the case for fdf (e o), a track that had undergone its own metamorphosis. It sounds different from the very first second. One might notice: glitched up toy-noise sample, funkier drum beat, and ethereal synth harmonies that took over the original percussion beat. The addition of those wind chime-y synths made fdf fit into the album sonically with much greater ease. The 2023 fdf is just as impactful as the 2020 version.
Sleepra and solon shift back to an introspective mood. Feathery, cloud-like vocals drift amidst calm synths and guitars. If fdf is an intergalactic cruise, the two tracks reflect the “cruise” inside the mind of the traveller – from nostalgia, cosmic euphoria, to alienation.
The last track, angelus novus references directly Paul Klee’s artwork and Walter Benjamin’s interpretation of it. The song seems to tie together various themes of the album, such as its abstract nature, the tensions between the past and future – nostalgia and concerns for an uncertain future (nemesis talks about “an obscured sun… a world with dead coral reefs…”), and an endless journeying through the cosmos (one can hear whirring extraterrestrial drafts after the first verse), much like the one the angel has undertaken after its owner’s passing. The song itself is sombre – mostly keys in minor, I still love the sparkly synths that appear throughout the album, including at the end of this track; the scarce drum splatters may be a callback to the first track, epigraph.
It must be said that without understanding the lyrics, I’m probably missing out on the majority of the storytelling. I also wondered about the sequencing – fdf being followed by sleepra felt jarring. Some tracks I wished were longer; evening news and angelus novus in particular would be even better if they were explored more deeply (I just miss PLMS’s eight-minute ending track...)
From pop-oriented fusion in earlier works, to PLMS’s jazz-infused hypnagogia, then to「e o」’s jazz - electronica - funk cosmos, Cero is once again unrecognisable. The atmosphere is overwhelming. The textured yet clean production evokes an otherworldly yet familiar soundscape, suspended between the grandeur of outer space and the depths of one’s internal world. While PLMS was dreamlike, it was still well-grounded in its mellow grooves. On the other hand, 「e o」 is no longer of this reality.