HYPER GAL – Pure: exclusive album stream

By At The Barrier on 15th February 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

We have an exclusive stream of Pure – the new album from HYPER GAL.

Friday 16th February sees the release of the Pure album by Japanese duo Hyper Gal on SKiN GRAFT Records. Originally released only in Japan, the album now has a worldwide release.

Springing from Osaka, Japan’s cultural centre and historical heart, HYPER GAL is a two-piece band consisting of visual artist Koharu Ishida on vocals and noise artist Kurumi Kadoya on drums. The minimalist duo make maximum impact – stripping music down beyond the bare essentials, to create shimmering, no-wave pop from blastbeat drums, glittery keyboard loops and ethereal bubblegum vocals – laced with velvet and firecrackers.

Listen here:

Kurumi Kadoya explains...”The title Pure is a reference to how we follow our initial impulses when creating music. This “pure” spirit is also reflected in the recording environment we chose. The album was recorded at the live music venue HARD RAIN in Osaka, Japan. We wanted to record it in an environment closer to a live performance, without using a recording studio.”

“I handled the mix and the mastering,” says Kurumi. “The sound quality is not clean, but it is designed to sound realistic and close to a live performance. The sound is created from fuzzed out noisy drums and track loops, and then on top of this we layer Koharu’s vocals.“

Vocalist Koharu Ishida continues…”The lyrics are pure emotion and cover a wide range of feelings. They can be rebellious or introspective…. It is a pure expression of that initial impulse.”

“Over the last three decades, SKiN GRAFT has had the honor of working with some truly unique artists; bands like Koenjihyakkei, Melt-Banana, Space Streakings, Zeni Geva, Ruins, UFO or Die… HYPER GAL continues on in that same tradition. They have created an album that is worlds apart. It is unmistakably them.” – Mark Fischer (founder SKiN GRAFT Records)