Band Review: Ogikubo Station

Ogikubo Station consists of Mike Park - who runs Asian Man Records - and Maura Weaver.

Starting out with an intended one-time vocal collaboration between the two friends, it has since turned into an EP last year and now a full length album that will be out on August 24th.

I have been listening to both, and I am looking forward to the album being out. There is an interesting mix. Park has some history of supporting punk bands, but Ogikubo Station does not really sound punk, other than some fairly short song lengths. Some of the content does remind me of emotional hardcore (though there are broader topics too, even if treated in a personal manner), but the overall impression is more folk.

This may be due to the album, We Can Pretend Like, ending on the track "Let the World Know" which very much has the feel of earnest peace lovers calling us all together. It is not the only song that has that kind of feeling, but musically it is often more interesting than folk tends to be. There is something perfect about the way that "Strong As You" and "Weak Souls Walk Around Here" pair together. I love the intro to "Rest Before We Go To War".

Some of that makes me regret doing the review slightly over a month before the release (I scheduled the review before I knew the date), but I can point you to a few things now.

You can find two songs available on the Asian Man Records Youtube channel. That includes the title track for the new album, a single, "Take A Piece of All That's Good".

In addition, the S/T EP is available now, and can act as a preview. I especially like the musical accents on "Bound to Wear Thin" and "I'm Not a Racist". They go in different directions, but they both make you take notice.


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