Half Japanese - Invincible
by Erick Mertz
published: 26 / 3 / 2019

Label:
Fire Records
Format: CD
intro
Eccentric but surprisingly mellow latest album from durable American alternative rock band Half Japanese
There is an allure to this word, weird, isn’t there? It’s a great and glorious adjective that, from time to time, gets overused. Yet, when weird is used properly, it captures an element no other word can. It’s a harmless charm. It’s idiosyncratic. Weird is character. Enter the pride of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the intrepid Half Japanese. The bottom line on 'Invincible' is this – it’s not a very weird record. I say that knowing full well that we’re talking about Half Japanese, purveyors of the weird since 1975, amidst those primordial moments of indie rock. The songs are gorgeous and harmlessly charming and littered with idiosyncratic moments, but it’s certainly not weird in the way so many of their previous records have been. Lyrically, 'Invincible' fits with into Half Japanese’s sweet spot. On this record, front man Jad Fair is, if anything, a romantic and child at heart, evidenced by his romping and blissed out 'Love Explosion' and the truth in love’s advertising, 'Forever in My Heart' He conveys his signature neurosis on 'Puppet People' which is a bleak and sad statement (while feeling childlike), and the horror garage rock classic, 'The Walking Dead' filling the quote for monster songs. A lot of Fair’s one of a kind lyric writing is on display too. On the title track, a song about the world being great (largely because of the presence of pancakes and syrup) he deadpans that line that a heart being invincible means that “it cannot be vinced”. No one else could write that line and evoke the kind of doe eyed response that Fair gets. Instrumentally though, the band that Half Japanese has become isn’t nearly as mercurial and fractured as before. These are robust rock songs that, while quirky, come across as the kind of stuff you could play for your square friends. Even though this isn’t exactly the peak-era of Jad Fair’s love song/monster song weirdness, I liked the experience of listening to 'Invincible' a whole lot. It didn’t need to grow on me. It was just there. Perhaps if I heard 'Invincible' before their seminal '½ Gentlemen/Not Beasts' (or take your pick of any of their early, esoteric dalliances into noise and punk that followed for half of a decade) the band would not have become so permanently cemented in my psyche. We’re not standing outside of the Half Japanese outpost sweating the secret handshake in hopes of getting in. Weird isn’t some exclusive club. Listening to this record, I do not believe Jad Fair believes that either. I think 'Invincible', a much more anchored, call it mature rock record, is an extension of what the band has always sounded, an audience for their idiosyncratic art. We’re in, don’t worry. We’re welcome. We’ve always been.
Track Listing:-
1 Swept Away2 Love Explosion
3 The Puppet People
4 Return Of The Vampire
5 Or Ever Will
6 No More
7 All At Once
8 The Walking Dead
9 Forever In My Heart
10 What Are You Gonna Do?
11 It's Here
12 Invincible
13 No Wonder
14 It Has Me
15 Indestructible
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/halfjapanesebandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Japanese
Label Links:-
https://twitter.com/firerecordingshttps://www.facebook.com/Firerecords
http://www.firerecords.com/
https://firerecords.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/fire_records/
https://www.youtube.com/user/FirerecordsUK
soundcloud
reviews |
Crazy Hearts (2021) |
![]() |
Impressive and enjoyable nineteenth album from America's unlikeliest pop band Half Japanese |
Why Not? (2018) |
Overjoyed (2014) |
most viewed articles
current edition
Spear Of Destiny - InterviewRobert Forster - Interview
Fiona Hutchings - Interview
When Rivers Meet - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every Song
Brian Wilson - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Pistol Daisys - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Gary Numan - Berserker
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Roberta Flack - 1937 - 2025
most viewed reviews
current edition
Peter Doolan - I Am a Tree Rooted to the Spot and a Snake Moves Around Me,in a CircleGarbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
Little Simz - Lotus
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
John McKay - Sixes and #Sevens
Vultures - Liz Kershaw Session 16.06.88
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
HAIM - I Quit
Vinny Peculiar - Things Too Long Left Unsaid
Morcheeba - Escape The Chaos
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart