“Subaru,” the second single from Tashi Wada’s What Is Not Strange?, looks back to the avant-garde pop that scored Japan’s economic ascent in the 1980s, when famed composers like Yasuaki Shimizu and Haruomi Hosono were writing commercial music for digital watches and probiotic milk beverages.
On this playful piece, which evokes a peaceful glide through the star cluster that slyly gives the song (and the auto company) its name, Wada signals a transformation from transcendent minimalism to a synth-driven sound folding in folk and pop songcraft, like some imaginary jam session between Harmonia and Discover America-era Van Dyke Parks.
As “Grand Trine,” the first single from the forthcoming album, Tashi is accompanied by Julia Holter on “Subaru,” and the piece is complemented by another beautiful video / vision from Dicky Bahto. What Is Not Strange? is out on Friday, June 7, with preorders up now.
