Review Summary: A slightly flawed, almost-opus of Japanese alt-pop.
Living Field is a case study in how an identity crisis can lead to some great music. It’s the last album before The Pillows transform into a 90s alt-rock band, and contains some of their most interesting ideas - but it’s far from consistent or cohesive, with a second half in particular that’s all over the place and not much like the first. Still, when the songs are generally as solid as these, it’s hard to fault the band for trying; without some growing pains we’d probably never have gotten their legendary run of late-90s records.
The album opens with Angel Fish, an upbeat tune with a bass-driven, bouncy vibe reminiscent of poppy jazz or even funk; it’s almost what you’d get if you asked Jaco Pastorius to compose an album of elevator music that’s better than it needs to be. This style characterizes the first half, and bassist Tatsuya Kashima is the star here. Replacing Kenji Ueda in 1993, Kashima is probably the most technically proficient player to share the stage with The Pillows, and his intricate, jazzy lines really elevate these songs.
Where tunes like “Sunday” and “Girlfriend” are tender and heartfelt, “Swinger’s Night Club” and “Daydream Wonder” explore this style a bit more adventurously. The former is probably the jazziest song The Pillows ever did, a fun instrumental that contributes to the pace of the first half; while Daydream Wonder is a great single with some nicely incorporated reggae-inspired sounds to distinguish it. However, it’s “Something Like A Romance” that’s the real highlight from the first half, its subtle intricacy a perfect execution of what The Pillows have been aiming at since their preceding mini album Kool Spice.
But what you get from Living Field will probably come down to your feelings about the second half. “The Killing Field” really throws the listener a curve, with its chaotic bluesy jamming and some fun vocals by Yamanaka to match Manabe and Kashima’s fretboard antics. “Happy Slave” continues the bluesy trajectory with a bit more funkiness thrown in for good measure, with a big goofy singalong chorus to top things off.
Things really go off the rails with meandering diversion “Native World”, which suggests the reggae elements are most effective as a minor component of songs like “Daydream Wonder” rather than a template for an entire song. “Climbing on the Roof” hints at future arena-ballad aspirations for The Pillows and while “Bye Bye,Sweet Pain” revisits the jazzy stylings, sort of, it brings the album to something of an anticlimactic conclusion.
Living Field has some of the best moments of The Pillows’ transitional “Second Movement” of jazz and pop-funk inspired songs, but there’s also a sense that The Pillows are throwing a lot of stuff at the wall in an effort to figure out what sticks. As strange as it feels to suggest, at this point it feels like they haven’t really figured out how to write a straight-up rock song yet, which contributes to the sensation of inconsistency. Fortunately, it wouldn’t be much longer before they figured it out on Please Mr. Lostman - and made a decisive break from the past that Living Field so clearly represents.
