放生会 [Carnival]

I'm honestly surprised by the relatively lackluster reception to this album, because to my ears this is just as fun and inspired as her classic material. It's not quite on the same level of quality as Teacup or Shoso Strip - those are some of the absolute paragons of clusterfuck pop music, anyways - but I still did have a ton of fun listening through this, and I do think that she hasn't lost her flair for making batshit insane jazz/J-pop/J-rock ear candy. I mean, the cover alone ... read more

It makes me very happy to say that “Carnival” is a return to form for Sheena. Whilst it never quite reaches the heights of her earlier discography, it is a very consistent and sonically rich album. In spite of this, perhaps a trimming of the tracklist and some more balanced energy throughout could have elevated “Carnival”...

In classic Sheena Ringo fashion, we open with an explosive and powerful track, “offering sake”, which features Ikkyu of tricot. It ... read more

Carnival is the most recent Sheena Ringo album (her next album will be released next year), and unfortunately, it suffers from some of the same quams as the previous album. However, unlike the previous album, there are actually some very fun moments where there is a lot of expressive energy; this doesn't save the album completely, but I thought it should be mentioned that it wasn't typically boring. Despite the litany of features throughout, the album didn't do a great job at ... read more

it’s good