Tojo Yamamoto - Heroes (Jarrett Welch Wrestling Co)

It wasn’t so long ago that I dived into, explored and wrote about Tojo Yamamoto’s self-titled album, and I remember doing so with a slight sense of bewilderment. I mean that, in the very best of ways, the music was great, but you never quite knew what they would throw at you next. One minute, you are being beaten over the head with the heaviest slice of hardcore you can imagine; the next, you are faced with fuzzed-out, post-punk walls of sound or that weird and wonderful genre-hop-bop that Gang of Four were so good at. Or, just when you have them pegged as nailing that proto-punk sound from way back when they go all metal on you: madness, I tell you, divine sonic madness.

So perhaps the fact that this time out, they have turned their attention to no other than David Bowie and possibly one of his most recognisable songs will help stave off such a disorientation. Perhaps. Okay, I’m going in.

It’s heavy, but you knew that would be the case. There is also something snarling and aggressive about it…again, it’s not a surprise. It’s fuzzed out and freaky. Check! But it is recognisably the original, just taken to new heights (or perhaps depths), made more intense, abrasive and somehow more anthemic because of all this.

If the original “Heroes” aspired to some sort of nirvana, elevated freedom, or a chance to get a taste of the life you always wanted, Tojo Yamamoto’s version has a much lower point of departure and feels more as if it more humbly asks for just a pause in the pain of day-to-day life, a brief window of rest, away from the torment, perhaps a moment of quiet as the voices in your head fall silent, simply a chance to be normal…just for one day. It’s all relative.

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