Last year, Japanese instrumental trio Mouse On The Keys released their magnificent third album, The Flowers Of Romance, which was one of our 15 Picks of the Year. They are ready to follow it up with a new EP entitled Out of Body, slated for an early 2017 release. Encompassing their usual far-flung influences and genres, from classical, jazz and electronic to math-rock, hardcore and heavy metal, Out of Body sees the band “take a darker turn”, as the press release describes. The EP “carries a more sombre atmosphere than that of previous releases, as each track is centered on the macabre theme of near-death experiences”. The band’s own Akira Kawasaki explains:

“After the disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011 and through my experience of suffering from asymptomatic brain infarction, I came to feel death familiar. I have been influenced by the book ‘Near-death experience’ by a Japanese journalist Takashi Tachibana and the documentary TV program about it”

Out of Body arrives on January 25th via Topshelf Records and we can already get a taste from it with the powerful and poignant ‘Earache’.