Masao Hiruma first made waves with Fumio Ichimura in Testpattern’s cult synthpop classic Apres-Midi on Yen Records in 1982. After the duo split, Hiruma began collaborating with French/American poet and model Evelyne Bennu, debuting together on TOKYO ROCK TV in 1984 and developing new material in his home studio.
TESTPATTERN gathers seventeen previously unreleased tracks from those sessions. It carries forward the sleek, atmospheric synthpop of Apres-Midi while venturing into stranger zones. ‘Sakuramochi’ and ‘Bird Island’ bear Hosono’s melodic influence, while ‘Tabac’ and ‘Le Soleil Se Leve’ lean toward the eccentric textures of Cluster. Oddball moments include the punkish ‘Alien Go Home’ and a skewed ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ with Bennu’s vocals shifting from deadpan New Wave to full-blown chanson on ‘Au Clair de Lune.’
Dedicated to Hiruma, who died in 2011, TESTPATTERN offers a vivid glimpse of his adventurous, genre-blurring vision.
TESTPATTERN gathers seventeen previously unreleased tracks from those sessions. It carries forward the sleek, atmospheric synthpop of Apres-Midi while venturing into stranger zones. ‘Sakuramochi’ and ‘Bird Island’ bear Hosono’s melodic influence, while ‘Tabac’ and ‘Le Soleil Se Leve’ lean toward the eccentric textures of Cluster. Oddball moments include the punkish ‘Alien Go Home’ and a skewed ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ with Bennu’s vocals shifting from deadpan New Wave to full-blown chanson on ‘Au Clair de Lune.’
Dedicated to Hiruma, who died in 2011, TESTPATTERN offers a vivid glimpse of his adventurous, genre-blurring vision.
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