News, Reviews

mouse on the keys share new EP Arche, out now via Topshelf Records

May 23, 2020
art by Jota Sato (Steinski)

mouse on the keys share Arche, out everywhere now

Seeking to expand their sound and style on tres (2018) and “Circle” (2019), mouse on the keys toyed with form and instrumentation by adding vocals, guitar, and electronic regalia. But on their new EP, Arche, the Japanese trio return to the core of their sound, a dizzying piano-based jazz founded on nimble syncopation and harmonic intrigue.

Track List:

  1. Praxis
  2. Emergence
  3. Anchor
  4. Room

With their back-to-basics approach on Arche, mouse on the keys are simultaneously elegant and playful. “Praxis” and “Emergence” share in the band’s proclivities for climax, suspense, and dynamism, all of which combine for an inventive style of fusion that is at times unrelenting, at others enchanting. 

Track “Anchor” boasts the release’s only guest feature in saxophonist Kenji Honzawa, whose agile performance skillfully calls and responds to the band’s dueling keyboardists. The arpeggiating closer “Room” teases in and out of rolling, hypnotic passages that build up to a mesmeric coda whose abrupt end is the only way to shake listeners from its entrancing powers.

The new vivacious release showcases the post-rock/jazz Tokyo based musical pioneers in their element. Beautifully creating such stylistic holy orchestrations. The composers continue to inspire in their carefully crafted complex arrangements.

https://www.topshelfrecords.com/products/668099-mouse-on-the-keys-arche

https://motk.bandcamp.com/album/arche

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