Mellow Waves

Mellow Waves is the sound of an artist reaching a conclusion, one that is content with its place in music history as it is hopeful of the future.

This mixture of styles on an album could be fatally flawed ambition in lesser hands, yet he pulls it off with aplomb, a master craftsman.

Known for the wild, kaleidoscopic pastiche of 1997’s Fantasma, Oyamada’s Cornelius continues to specialize in creating moments of startling fun, even if his sonic palette isn’t always as show-offy and sugar-coated as it once was.

Cornelius may not be the second coming of Brian Wilson, as the press proclaimed back on Fantasma’s release, but he’s a sonic curator and composer of rare gifts. Don’t let the lightness of Mellow Waves fool you; its pleasures are substantive and lingering.

There's little of the playful invention of 1997's astonishing Fantasma, but imaginative details abound, even at these slower tempos.

Although the sounds might be a bit dulled to the seasoned listener after 20 years of similar excursions, there are a few cuts here that deserve to be held up as classics in this sun-dappled sub-genre.

This is an exploration of sounds, thoughts and feelings; an eclectic array of the variety of experiences that music can offer.

Mellow Waves might be a strange bedfellow for the seminal albums of the year so far, but it’s a nonetheless unassumingly essential artifact.

Oyamada's work as Cornelius over the past 20 years has defied genre, logic and time; on Mellow Waves, it sounds like he's on cruise control.