The stars say it all: Arlene Hattori's "Finding Myself Again" is one of the year's best albums as well as most promising debuts. You can include Hattori with the current New Wave revival, but don't expect the usual Gang of Four or Cure post-punk riffs that has been the dominating retread lately. Instead, Hattori conjures flashbacks of the jangly (the Smiths, Aztec Camera) and soul-tinged (the Style Council, Everything But the Girl) side of New Wave, which makes her album a bolt of cold air on a humid summer afternoon. Hattori's voice is totally '80s -- raspy in the Stevie Nicks sense yet bittersweet a la the late Kirsty MacColl.
What separates Hattori from the pack of young wolves on an '80s notalgia rampage is that she sounds like she's from the decade instead of merely reviving it. A quick scan of her online biography proved that right as she has been in the music scene since the dawn of New Wave in the early '80s.
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The sunny, ringing guitars of "I Want to Know" brought back memories of college days, obsessing over Everything But the Girl's "Love Not Money" LP. I thought they didn't make music like this any longer. But, wait, there's more! "Give It Up" has a funky mid-'80s vibe that would've made a club favorite, especially with its icy synthesizers and AOR guitar solos. Just to make the '80s roots even more obvious, Hattori includes a dance remix of "When I Looked Into Your Eyes" that could've been released in 1987. "Frustrated Maryann" is what the Smiths would've been like if they had a Japanese woman on vocals.
Visit http://www.arlenehattori.com immediately and buy this CD above all else if you're missing the '80s.
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