Ogikubo Station’s 2017 EP was very mellow and pretty — however, We Can Pretend Like, the new album due out on August 24, 2018, has more of a ’90s Mint Records/Lookout Records feel, in my opinion. My mind’s eye can see a Ogikubo Station, The Muffs, Cub, and Pretty Girls Make Graves show play out like a best-night-ever.

I dig this album much more than the EP because with that initial release they were really just experimenting with each other. Mike Park had initially asked Maura Weaver to sing on a song he had written, and somehow in the blink of an eye that lead to the EP and a tour. We were lucky enough to catch them in Vegas on that tour, and believe you me, the energy these two exude can energize an entire crowd!

On this full length these two have finally found who they are as a band. They have found their voice, if you will. The songs are beautiful and dripping with emotion, but not in a pop-punk-emo way. Imagine a softer, less distorted Iron Chic. A less Rancid-y RVIVR. A not-so-pop-punk Mixtapes. Shit there’s a bit of Frente and They Might Be Giants sprinkled in here too.

The keys on “Drowing at the Waterhole” are delicious.

Highly recommended.

(Asian Man Records, PO Box 35585, Monte Sereno, CA 95030)