blanc. – canvas (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

1. coast
2. there she goes
3. she levitates
4. canvas
5. fait accompli
6. papagaio
7. shade of gray
8. past present future
9. victory
10. summer affair
11. only human
12. solstice

Ontario-born singer/songwriter Maynard Plant, a member of the pop group Monkey Majik is back with his second full-length album.

For those familiar with the music of Monkey Majik, their music is typically a hybrid of Japanese and English music and for the most part, the group has done quite nicely for avex entertainment inc. independent label, Binyl Records with a good number of singles and albums that have done quite well on the Oricon Charts.

But when it comes to blanc.’s music, all tracks are in English, as well as written, produced and mixed by .blanc.  The majority of the tracks are sung by blanc. but also features collaborations with vocalists Sayulee and AMWE.

For the most part, fans who enjoy two-step to synth-driven pop tracks will find “canvas” to be a worthy sequel to “new world”.  Songs such as “coast” features a good touch of acoustic, piano and a nice deep beat, while a track like “fait accompli” sounds like a synth chiptune style of track and a track like “papagaio” has a tropical feel with a deep beat.  Favorites on the album from .blanc include “she levitates” with its deep bass (although I will drop my resistance to auto-tune for this track) and the music of “past present future”.  But for the most part, the arrangements on this album are well-done.

And what I love about this album is the collaborations with New Zealand, now Japan-based artist Sayulee for “there she goes” and “fait accompli” and retro pop artist AMWE for the tracks “shade of gray” and “solstice”.   The tracks are very well done and the fact that .blanc is giving a chance for both artist to gain some recognition with this album releases is awesome!

As for the CD the insert is five-fold and features the English lyrics to each track as well as production credits.  Also, included is a binyl records piece promoting Monkey Majik, KAT and Jackson Vibe.

Overall, “canvas” is a solid album that is easily accessible, especially for the synth-pop fans who are familiar with Plant’s work.  Check it out!

BUY THIS ALBUM from CDJapan.com:

canvas

blanc.