TOKiMONSTA - Lune Rouge

TOKiMONSTA
Lune Rouge
2017
Spotify

At the beginning of 2016 TOKiMONSTA (Jennifer Lee) was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder that for periods of time took away her ability to speak and to hear music. For any musician this had to be one of the most disturbing events one could go through however a pair of surgeries and plenty of recovery time allowed her to regain her facilities and produce this record Lune Rouge. The illness never really makes an appearance on this album and instead TOKiMONSTA moves forward with music that is less glitchy than her previous stuff into a more pop centric sound. The first two tracks "Lune" and "Rouge" could even be called quite beautiful as TOKiMONSTA sets the stage for what is to come. This album is far brighter than anything she has done in the past and also smoother. She hangs back much more with production that you could even call generic. You keep waiting for something big to break through and rock your socks off but this record hangs right at the pop level almost the entire time. TOKiMONSTA almost seems to be making a play for a more palatable sound but in doing so she looses some of the things that made her special in the first place. Everything on this album is so glossy but lacks real punch and substance. The track with MNDR "We Love" has interesting elements and some eclectic production but for the most part it is just kind of a complex bore. It never engages that other gear, the album just idles along and hopes that's good enough.

"NO WAY" featuring rappers Joey Purp and Isaiah Rashad is a fine track but just kind of misses the mark on what is happening now. It feels wholly out of touch. "Don't Call Me" is the one song that is somewhat interesting electronically but falls apart once the vocals begin. When she employs choppy vocals or some kind of effect it feels more interesting and simply put, better. When it's just an electronic pop song its dull and uninspired. "Estrange" which closes the album out is so damn boring and only has this really subtle asian inspired beat but it goes absolutely no where even when it tries to shift into something larger towards the end. The album simply sails by leaving little to no impact on the way out leaving you scratching your head sort of wondering what you just listened to. If TOKiMONSTA wanting something more pop she succeeded in moving to the middle, but in the process she likely will lose a lot of fans.

4.8 out of 10