Rob’s Album Of The Week: Lite’s Multiple

The expansiveness brought from the styles of prog rock and math rock can be stunning. Riffs and chords are literally all over the place sonically while the drums keep up the pace in wide-ranging ways. Tokyo act Lite has been doing this for over 15 years and with a worldwide effect. Their sixth album, Multiple, that was released via Topshelf Records on June 5 is a continuation of pushing the elements and not staying grounded. There are even a few uncharacteristic departures taken by the band but they don’t alienate the listener.

One major difference between this record and the band’s past installments has to be the incorporation of vocalists, on one song in particular. Lite has always been an instrumental act that sometimes use wordless harmonies to add another component. Hearing vocals for the first time might surprise a longtime fan, but what is art without progression? Other than this, it’s a lot of what someone who knows about Lite would expect. Guitarists Noboyuki Takeda and Kozo Kusumoto, who also plays synth, absolutely shred while June Izawa on bass and Akinori Yamamoto on drums maintain the complex rhythms.

I usually relate listening to music like Lite’s to imagining a ping pong ball being bounced around. So many tones are jumping off each other and the beats add to the emphatic vibe. It’s like free jazz on steroids where instead of a sax…