ALBUM REVIEW: Masaki Batoh – Smile Jesus Loves YOU

Drag City

Released: 08.05.20

Introspective Japanese psychedelia recorded entirely through analogue means, this is Masaki Batoh’s fifth solo outing with contributions by fellow Ghost & The Silence members including the free drummer Hiroyuki Usui. Masaki sings in English, Spanish, Latin and his native language throughout this panoramic worldwide sound trip into his apolitical, ambiguously critical, non-religion specific aural universe (don’t let the title fool you) “…Now clap your hands in empty sky…”

The duality of light and dark portrayed here perfectly paints the horrors of our lives in subtle but permeating strokes, whilst the joy invoked escaping our human existence is scattered to infuse an overall optimistic, multi-coloured and psyched out impression. The album closes with a cover of Are You Experienced? Now I am.