It seems like there’s no rest for Louie Zong.
Barely a month after his last album Scrapbook Studio – not to mention only five months since Rat Taxi, his first album of the year – Louie Zong released his latest, the citypop-infused Aquarium City, earlier this week.
Right from the opening sting, Aquarium City is pure sonic joy – a gorgeous mashup of the beachy ease of Masayoshi Takanaka (a man Zong himself has attributed stylistically to this new album), any and every beach-themed Mario Kart level, and Tennyson-style keyboards. More than one track made me think of the gorgeously weird soundtrack to We Love Katamari, the Playstation 2 game where you appease the king of the cosmos by rolling around a huge sticky ball to collect objects and create new planets.
Hopefully, that sets the scene for what Aquarium City has in store for anyone who’s not yet listened.
It’s hard not to think of this album as another in Louie Zong’s collection of soundtracks for games that don’t exist – the names of all the tracks certainly point to this being another example of it, with titles like “Dolphin Destiny,” “Flying Fish Funk,” and “Mackerel Mile.” Even if it isn’t deliberate, it adds to the aura of sweetness around Zong’s music. This is a person who truly loves making music with heavy homages to the things he loves, be it games, animation, or the permeating vapour of y2k internet vibes.
Stand-out tracks for me on this album include “Flying Fish Funk,” which pulls out a bass line that could honestly have sprung from the brain of bass god Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), and the gently melancholic “Eel Express,” which feels like the final few minutes of a long drive home when you’re somehow tired but invigorated at the same time.
Possibly the weakest track for me was “Swim With Me,” but that by no means is me suggesting it’s a dud – I have found myself singing ‘you were watching a turrrrrrtle’ for several days now.
Once again, Louie Zong has pulled out another fun, infectious album that will definitely spend the next few months in my rotation, just like Rat Taxi did.
Support Louie Zong on bandcamp here.
