Pitchfork

Just because something seems cute or innocent doesn't mean it isn't pushing boundaries. Writing about beloved Sarah Records band the Field Mice, Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe mentioned the suburban London twee-poppers' "almost psychedelic earnestness." He went on, "No matter how sweet or guileless they sound, they're as 'difficult' of a band to deal with as your average avant-gardists." I liked his thinking so much I borrowed a similar analogy to describe the Pitchfork-recommended debut album by Sincerely Yours Swedish-pop act the Honeydrips. Where the Field Mice and the Honeydrips at least deal with somewhat grown-up concerns, Japan-based husband-wife duo Lullatone arguably go even further, perhaps emboldened by their country's "cult of cuteness": to extreme child's play.

After refining their naptime electronic pop on 2006's Plays Pajama Pop Pour Vous, which yielded ukulele-based gem "Bedroom Bossa Band", Lullatone have now completed the follow-up, to be called Presents the Bedtime Beat and released on Australian avant-pop label Someone Good (also organizing the group's spring tour of Australia and New Zealand). The first song from the mini-album, "The Bathtime Beat", is in keeping with the "minimalism is cute" motto on the tote bags the duo's Shawn James Seymour and Yoshimi Tomida have given out at shows. With chirpy electronic beats, xylophone-like chimes, underwater recorders, a bathwater "drum solo", and Tomida's whispery vocals about, yup, bathtime-- "Playing my song, but it won't be too long/ 'til I'm wrinkly"-- it's no surprise Lullatone are set to appear on a Japanese children's TV show. "This new track is all about making nice beats with the tub water," they write on their MySpace blog. If it isn't quite Black Dice, it could be the polar opposite.

MP3:> Lullatone: The Bathtime Beat"
[from Presents the Bedtime Beat; due on Someone Good]