Review Summary: Like drowning in the vacuum of space or some other metaphorical nonsense
So one time I was playing
Sonic Adventure 2 and I was playing the Final Rush stage and I had a breakthrough: the music doesn’t fit. Actually, that’s only half true; it fits the speed of the stage but oh my god look at all these lights and sh
it, the ARK makes it feel like outer space has a ceiling. Shoes grinding on rails, I wrapped around giant space pillars, blew sh
it up, and ran from a massive avalanche of fiery debris and thought to myself; what would people living here actually listen to? Then like, the Meteor Herd track started playing and that made sense. It’d be something like that but with an overly auto-tuned female voice and soaring vocals and a sh
it-ton of more synths. Then I heard
C.O.P.Y. for the first time….
Though that didn’t really happen, I must say I quite enjoyed Mitsuki’s record anyway. I mean, you kind of know right away that this album would make sense for that stage, and every similar space-colony escapade (I dunno, I can sorta see Luke Skywalker getting electrocuted to “Galaxy Boy”), so I couldn’t resist drawing the comparison. That’s pretty much the main draw here; the colorful, energetic space vibes. Seriously, if you go back and replay those stages with this album playing, it’s like a faint spiritual moment. Synths drive everything forward, and stars and little angry robots come to mind, though the vocals are completely drowning in auto-tune. Actually, the very beginning is kind of ridiculous with how overdone the vocal effects are on the intro to “Galaxy Boy”, though that song turns out being pretty good. Still, there’s pretty much nothing organic to be found here, which probably makes or breaks the album for you, because the fact is that the album is so ridiculously
saturated with computer effects that to some, it could actually be
charming. I mean she’s so far over the line between organic and inorganic that there can’t be a chance in hell this wasn’t her intention, or wasn’t it? That’s up to you to decide. Now, ruling all that out, you have a decently danceable record here. Her voice, despite its android-isms, pulls of some addictive melodies, namely track 2 “China Discotica” and track 7, “Fantasy Candy”. The melodies are always sweet and upbeat, though “Darling Wondering Staring” is just plain boring with its overdrawn attempts at being an emotional ballad. You might even say,
it reaches for the stars, but then you’d have to be burned at the stake, though it is nonetheless true. Thankfully “Darling Wondering Staring” only happens once, though there are a few lukewarm moments here and there beyond it.
Whatever your preference may be ultimately dictates your final feelings for this record. By no means is it a J-pop masterpiece (I recommend
Perfume’s discography over Mitsuki’s work), but there’s still plenty to like about
C.O.P.Y.. Actually, there’s plenty to hate too if I may be the devil’s advocate here, but at least give it a look if you know you don’t already completely hate Japanese electro pop. Because if you do, well, the original Meteor Herd song will do for now.
