Perfume are a three-member Japanese technopop group from Hiroshima. I’d never really heard of them until their name cropped up in a few Jpop blogs I follow about a month or so before my recent Japan trip.

As it happened, my trip coincided with the release of their new album, Triangle, and, in my usual easily-persuaded-by-advertising way, I picked it up on my last day. And as it turns out, I love it.

Well, technically I don’t love all of it. Like a lot of my recent Jpop CD’s about half the tracks I’m ambivalent too (and a couple are a bit meh), but the tracks I do like I absolutely *adore* (and, unsurprisingly, they happen to be the previously released singles from the album).

Take for example, the first proper track, Love the World, which is just about as perky as you can get. It’s been bringing a smile to my face all summer.

My second favourite is the penultimate track, One Room Disco, which has a fantastic video:

I love the way this starts off with a slightly menacing techno riff, but quickly gets into a more upbeat rhythm. This *always* cheers me up.

Having played Triangle pretty much non-stop for the last month, I sought out Perfume’s back catalogue too. I can’t say I’m as enamoured with the rest of it as Triangle. I was surprised that some of it is really pure bubblegum pop — clearly before their producer moved them to a more techno sound — and a lot of it isn’t quite as catchy as I’d hoped. But there are some absolute gems, like Perfect Star, Perfect Style from their Complete Best album (this live video really showing off their para para aspect):

It’s a funny thing technopop. I can honestly say I hate most techno music, but when infused with this level of bubblegum pop, not to mention the harmonic vocals of A-chan, Nocchi and Kashiyuka, it’s irresistable. Not to mention, the beat is really good for totally losing yourself in. Sometimes, after a really long, stressful day, putting this on on the way home really unwinds me.

So Perfume, you have another fan and I chalk this to another of my happy, serendipitous fandom discoveries. ^^