BUMP OF CHICKEN’s “Butterflies” was the best selling album of February, so I was given the task of reviewing the album for The Japan Times.

I went into this album liking some of the singles, namely “Parade” and “Hello,world!” I will be honest and say that this wasn’t really an album I was eagerly anticipating, because I’m not a fan of BUMP OF CHICKEN. They make some nice songs, but they’re a bit too safe for me. And “Butterflies” is a reflection of that. The album generally just felt like an uninspired retread of previous material.

This playing it safe really rears its head on the song “Butterfly.” This is just a Japanese version of the 2014 Coldplay / Avicii collaboration “A Sky Full of Stars.” It seems as if BUMP OF CHICKEN thought they were doing something cutting edge with this song by incorporating EDM, but in the end it just sounds dated. Seeing as how there is a growing electronic music scene in Japan, they would’ve been better of working with a rising talent like tofubeats or Seiho or Qrion instead of going the generic EDM route.

My full review can be read here.

Again, thank you all for your support!