Shiina Ringo - Sanmon Gossip (2009)

Sanmon Gossip (三文ゴシップ Superficial Gossip) is Shiina Ringo's fourth original album, released on June 24, 2009 by EMI Music Japan / Virgin Music. The album debuted at #1 with 120,446 units sold and is certified Gold by the RIAJ.

It includes "Karisome Otome", which was released exclusively for download, and "Futaribocchi Jikan", which was featured on NHK's "Minna no Uta" from June to July 2009. This gorgeous work features "artists with a wide range of personalities", including Saito Neko, Hiizumi Masayuki, and Ukigumo!

Ringo Shiina is prone to experimentation, but on Superficial Gossip she decided to stick to what she does best -- crooning and screaming her way through a set of pop-jazz numbers. This worked well chart-wise and produced some interesting tunes, but the record still has some flaws that lessen its fun factor. Shiina goes for a straightforward retro feel -- for the most part, Superficial Gossip is pre-Elvis music, the kind of stuff heard in those black-and-white Hollywood musicals or Ella Fitzgerald records, dominated by brass, sax, acoustic bass, and old-fashioned keyboards rather than guitars and drum loops, although some of those make their way discreetly into the background. The problem here is not a return-to-the-past approach itself, but the way it's executed: the songs are just too crammed full. On one hand, Shiina tries to stick to melodic fare fit for a restaurant show or an '50s New Year's television special, but on the other, she's taking the "jazz" part seriously, and so there's a lot going on between instruments, which seem trapped in the 4/4 rhythm, but do their best to make up for it. Shiina herself overdoes things quite often as well -- she's got a good vocal range, but when she goes all out, she sounds shrill and even grating, and she goes all out a lot. In the end, the music is neither loungey enough to relax and drift with it, nor adventurous enough to really thrill the audience; the result isn't bad, but is something of an acquired taste. An additional saving grace is found in the detours -- Shiina is too restless to stick to one style throughout, and so she does some techno and rock numbers just to stir things up. Those aren't perfect, either -- try listening to the vocals in "Sharp Practice" without a "huh?" or a snort -- but, strangely, they sound more restrained and focused than the "mainstream" part of the record.