Excerpt: “What would happen if you took Red House Painters and gave them Wheaties before recording? Mukaizake’s languorous rhythms and stretched-out singing, as well as its minor-key melodies, do take a page from RHP. The songs hide a certain complexity, though, that might get them tagged as math-rock were the band to play them at twice their speeds. As it happens, playing somber math rock at half speed brings out subtleties that you might miss otherwise…. You barely notice that the band has been sneaking in the odd beat, the odd melody, the unusual attenuation of form because it’s always delivered fluidly and naturally. Maybe Mukaizake is best described as a thinking man’s slowcore.”

Delusions of Adequacy