Shoot the Moon

One suitcase, one hand on the door, and the sun is barely up. Mari Kaneko sets off in the middle of a lovers' quarrel, leaving behind an apartment that feels as if it held years of her life. That is the kind of scene she can make vivid with a few rough edges in her voice.

On Shoot the Moon, Kaneko has a formidable band around her, with Yoshihiro Naruse, Jun Nagai, Hiroyuki Namba and others supplying the kind of playing that never flattens the drama. “Moshimo” and “Owari naki Hajimari” make the most of her gift for giving ordinary regret a restless pulse. The appeal is not polish for its own sake; it is the sense that a real morning is happening just outside the song.