Broken Little Sister Memories, Violet & Demons

Japan, as you may well know, produces some of the world’s finest things: electronics and anime may spring to mind. I’m sure most people don’t find guitar and synth-heavy shoegaze popping into their head when they consider Japan’s exports, and perhaps this is accurate. Still, Broken Little Sister is facing that notion head-on, and if Memories, Violet & Demons is any indication, they might not be the only ones.

Japanese shoegaze outfit Broken Little Sister opens their first full-length, Memories, Violet & Demons with such assuredness, nationality doesn’t enter the picture unless it’s been spoon-fed before hand — I guess I’m guilty of that. Still, this is an album that doesn’t open as a Japanese tryst with dream pop but as a glowing exposition of the sound; thick, swirling guitars are the hot item here.

For all the plaudits I’ve offered above, it’s not really until the middle of the album that Memories, Violet & Demons really comes into its own and escapes the aping, however graceful, of  “Western” dream pop. With the track Birthday, Broken Little Sister starts to sound off-kilter, venturing off the beaten path a bit. The result? Glitch-ridden (the sound, not the attribute of having defects) and melodic dream pop starts to come to the fore.

That sort of becomes the ad hoc theme, and it’s all underlaid with a driving movement — never does Memories, Violet & Demons feel slow, despite having variety to the pacing. It’s a mean feat for a debut full-length, and Broken Little Sister should receive plaudits for this effort. This really is a coherent collection, but that coherency isn’t used to cover for a lack of tonal variation. No, this really is an album that can be judged on its merits, and it’ll tend to come out well in those judgments.

The fact that Broken Little Sister is Japanese is really incidental to the music. Sure, it’s novel, and there may be cultural influences that affect some parts of the music, but this is tried and true dream-pop. Memories, Violet & Demons comes from a band that’s willing to risk a bit of musical safety to engineer an effort that will turn heads on first listen — not first glance.