Review Summary: Tentenko XVII: A Tale of Two Tentenkos
Tentenko is an ex-idol freelance artist who runs her own label and has released an extensive range of experimental pop and techno EPs. This review is part of an ongoing series dedicated to exploring her discography. For a point of reference and orientation to her discography as a whole, please see the first instalment in the series, the review for Good Bye, Good Girl.
The last entry in the series, Tentenko’s live album
Tentenko no Otanoshimikai, was such a convenient Story So Far update that the development of her discography came ominously close to making perfect sense for a moment. Enough of that! If this review series were a novel or, better still, a TV show (
no getting ideas), it would be time for a major plot twist; a branching of paths, an epic anime betrayal or - ideally - a parallel universe revelation. What can I say, Tentenko knows me too well: welcome to the parallel Tentenkoverse.
At some point in 2016, our intrepid heroine signed to the label Toys Factory, opening a new pathway of her career that would bring her into contact with a wider pool of collaborators and promotors. Her production value would go through the roof, her releases would be cut back to an annual rather than monthly basis, and her music would tend towards kooky pop songs that a wider group of people in both Tentenkoverses would conceivably want to listen to. A vast change, then. Her Toys Factory releases are
by far the better known and more celebrated portion of her discography; if you ever see anyone casually bringing up Tentenko in some dusty corner of the internet, chances are they’re referring to this stuff.
For most artists, this kind of signing would mark the end of their scattergun freelance days, but - this is where things get interesting - not Tentenko. Her solo output on Tenten Records continued as relentlessly and inconsistently as ever after her Toys Factory signing, allowing us to entertain a parallel universe theory in which the anything-goes freelancer and the professional pop artist co-exist distinctly within the same career. There’s your plot twist: Tentenko’s alter ego. To a certain extent, it helps to look at her Toys Factory and Tenten Records releases as entirely separate discographies. Their differences go beyond the polish and slick, edgy music videos (courtesy of art director Kenichiro Nagao) of her Toys Factory produce, stemming from a drastically altered balance of creative input; we’ll explore this more on her first full release for Toys Factory,
Kogyo Seihin, but the gist is that Tentenko writes her lyrics while the production and composition are handled by a range of collaborators.
It’s a far cry from the lo-fi independence of her Tenten Records CD-Rs, but this shouldn’t be mistaken for a return to her BiS-era role as an industry figurehead. The style and image Tentenko cultivates on this material is reflected, exaggerated and refined on her Toys Factory release; her collaborators are somewhat sensitive to her idiosyncrasies and her work with them is cogent with her freelance output. There’s a balance here, of course: in the same way that the immediate question for any given Tenten Records release is
just how inconsistent and no-filter will this be?, the default question for Tentenko’s Toys Factory material will be
just how far does this dilute the distinctive creative voice we hear on Tenten Records CD-Rs? These are the links through which our parallel universes commune with one another, but it doesn’t bear overthinking beyond the level of polish and the consideration of who specifically is responsible for the songwriting. Think of it as a case of crude oil vs. gasoline: they might have very different properties and functions, but this has little bearing for chainsmokers at refineries or petrol stations alike.
With all that established, “Hokago Symphony”, Tentenko’s debut single with Toys Factory, is an excellent indication of what can be expected from this part of her career. It’s a straight-up banger with the strongest hooks and most inviting sense of momentum we’ve heard from Tentenko so far, making it the first time since “Good Bye, Good Girl.” that your kids and/or folks can get on board with her. Hooray for that! It’s also a well-gauged balance of Tentendencies old and new; the rhythm section is trademark Tentenko, with its stuttering bassline and orbital, filtered noise, but there are several things that you’d
never hear on a Tenten Records release. The perky guitar that fleshes out the verse rhythm and fills in for a hook at the end of each line of the chorus is something new to her sound, but the real takeaway here is the vocal melodies. We’ve covered this before, but vocal lines have never been Tentenko’s strong suit and most of her freelance output fares best when her voice avoids taking the lead. Not so here! Songwriter D.N.A. Instrumental sets Tentenko up with an ultra-catchy arrangement that places her harmonised (!) voice front and centre; it’s a little artificial, though appropriately so for this kind of plucky techno-pop, and a long way from her usual lethargic style, but the track is well-handled and Tentenko sounds sensational on that doozy of a chorus. Great stuff.
The one reservation I hold about this track is the degree to which Tentenko’s voice and style naturally lend themselves to this kind of poppy immediacy, but this single is infectious and, most importantly, energetic enough to steamroller over this misgiving for the most part. It’s a largely unimportant side-note for now, but will be come somewhat more important to bear in mind when we unpack more of her Toys Factory output further down the line. But for now, “Hokago Symphony” marks a strong debut for the flashier, more palatable arc of Tentenko’s career. Onwards and upwards!
