Mouse On the Keys are a three-piece outfit featuring two keyboards and drums, and following last year's acclaimed EP Sezession, they have released their full-length debut album, an anxious object. There music is what is probably best described as jazz-influenced post-rock, and whilst it's hardly likely to feature on DJ sets in club jazz events, the band produce powerful and compelling tunes. One most of the tracks the two pianists play hypnotic riffs over a backdrop of tight post-rock drum beats creating a rich tapestry of sound that draws the listener in. The liner notes include some sprawling, somewhat incoherent rambling suggesting that Tokyo is perhaps the anxious object of the title, and whilst the text is as garbled as something spewed out by Google Translate, the music on the album reflects the mood of a modern urban life, being both energetic and passionate and yet at the same time somehow cold and distant.
Beginning slowly with the brief Completed Nihilism, the album really gets going with Spectres de Mouse, which together with Double Bind, are the two really stand out tracks here. Other tunes (Unflexible Grids and Soil) are reminiscent in a way of the jazz/post-rock mix of Poland's Contemporary Noise Quintet, another band who deserve wider recognition. Despite being a little on the brief side, an anxious object is a fine recording that begs repeated listens.
01.completed nihilism
02.spectres de mouse
03.seiren
04.dirty realism
05.forgotten children
06.unflexible grids
07.double bind
08.soil
09.ouroboros
Arranged By - Takaaki Mino (tracks: 1)
Drums, Piano, Written-By - Akira Kawasaki
Piano, Film Producer [Visualized] - Keisuke Ikeda
Piano, Keyboards - Atsushi Kiyota , Daisuke Niitome
Producer - Takaaki Mino
Producer, Arranged By - Mouse On The Keys
Saxophone [Soprano] - Jun Nemoto (tracks: 8)
Trumpet - Daisuke Sasaki (tracks: 3)
