SHUGO TOKUMARU - Exit

Shugo Tokumaru's a Japanese gent, but the way in which he softens the syllables of the title to first track "Parachute" sounds more like "pra-geu" or something equally phonetically Portuguese. "Green Rain"'s seven-beat spriteliness, led by an accordion or concertina, stops for 4/4 piano balladry before a slight return. Exit's quick-edit cheer's comparable to Cornelius, but there's something old-world and hand-cobbled about Tokumaru's approach, less space-age bachelor pad than Rube Goldberg repair shop, with a higher-pitched singing style much closer to Dungen (peddling their own new disc, 4), especially when laying into the '70s chorus harmonies as on "Button".