STABLE

Personally, this is one of the albums I have loved most since EXTREME BEAUTY and the 1990s. Kenji Okazawa, Takayuki Hijikata and Yusuke Kurata bring the seasoned groove of live performance and recording to the hard funk. With dignified gospel-style compositions, it becomes a dense collection filled with presence and scale. Particularly wonderful are 5, whose medium number conveys the isolation of the city, and 9, expressing unease in the low register amid an ensemble centered on the bass. I cannot stop watching the lights of the city in 3, and hearing that song's distinctive tune.