Notes on "Adult Baby" by KAZU

 

“This discovery struck me, perhaps because I am convinced that in a way, we are all adult babies, that many people feel that way inside and that they identify with this expression.” -Kazu Makino

Kazu Makino was born in 1969 and raised in Kyoto, Japan. She moved to New York City in the early 1990s to study art and met twin brothers Amedeo & Simone Pace at an Italian restaurant. They became close friends and formed Blonde Redhead in 1993. Still together, their last full album, Barragán, was released in 2014, and they recently finished a short concert tour over the summer. 

Kazu (stylized KAZU) finally left New York for the Italian island of Elba several years ago to treat her asthma, and during her time ensconced on the isle that once served as Napoleon Bonaparte's picturesque prison, she found the inspiration to finally set out and create her first solo album. Recorded and released in 2019 through her own Adult Baby Records, Adult Baby finds Kazu collaborating with legendary composer and producer (and personal friend) Ryuichi Sakamoto on over half the album, who is credited with piano, field recordings, and “organic instruments”. I don't know what "organic instruments" means exactly, but based on what I've heard in Adult Baby, I think I could consider myself a fan. Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco (known for his collaborations with David Byrne and Atoms For Peace) also contributed to tracks Salty & Coyote. 

SALTY

This feels like a proper introduction to Adult Baby. Sultry, breathy vocals. I adore the rhythm. I don’t know what she’s saying. I understand about half the words, but the cadence is slightly off, so I don’t have any context for this. Backwards vocals? The whole damned thing is going backwards, like a snake eating its own tail. What delightful madness, like a dream. It doesn't have to make sense. I love it.

COME BEHIND ME, SO GOOD!

It’s a bunch of glorious noise. She chops up her lyrics to build the music. An entrancing melody with word salad. Disorienting and intriguing. Then a new melody emerges to drown the noise, and romance rises. It’s beautiful. A discordant waltz, courtesy of an assist from the Budapest Art Orchestra. Sweeping and lovely. In the end, both melodies come together flawlessly to create something transcendent. Just brilliant. 

MEO

It begins in silence. The music drifts in through an open window from another dimension. Always something off-kilter to keep you on your toes. Never go the purely conventional route if you can help it. Kazu's vocals cut through the silence like a velvet knife. “Look around you!” A humbling showcase for pleading emotion. Kazu has her own unique style and vocal delivery and it’s in full effect here, perhaps even exaggerated somewhat to provoke a desired response. The orchestral arrangement absolutely pops in the last two minutes. Fucking hell. Beauty. Grace. It runs through different musical arrangements and evolves throughout. I am in awe. Contemplative in its final seconds with that lonely piano. Perfect. 

ADULT BABY

The title track is inspired by paraphilic infantilism. More specifically, the existence of “adult baby clubs” where rich and powerful men come to be treated like infants. Kazu learned of one of these clubs in Germany and was so fascinated by the idea of such a place existing that it just stuck in her mind like a seed germinating in fertile soil. There are several different ways one could take this information in regards to the song, and the album as a whole. We could interpret this as pure fetishization, as perhaps a critique of a form of collective or societal infantilism, or even something more innocent, simply stripping away the stress and burdens of adulthood for just a little while in an effort to exist without worry, without fear or trepidation. 

"Do I want my life on repeat? No, I don't want to know what awaits me."

Is that why the track has an almost sinister lullaby vibe? Is this why she seems to deliberately speak in such a childlike tone time and time again, like she’s still learning what all these words mean and is exploring them in such an innocent fashion? Trying to look at the world with new eyes. An adult baby...

UNSURE IN WAVES

The synth melody echoes in a cavernous space. An empty cathedral. “I’m ticklish with fear.” Drums threaten to bring the ceiling down over our heads. They come in like crashing waves on the shoreline, then recede just as quickly. “Who are you? Why are you hurt?” Calling out for help. Calling out for love. Adrift in an endless sea. This is her message in a bottle.

COYOTE

Sends us off with a nice dream. “I want to be me beside you.” Love. Doomed? Perhaps. Longing. Desire. Fatalistic romance. This works very well. I’d love to hear Kazu’s take on a James Bond theme. This might be her audition.

Kazu Makino treats her voice like a versatile musical instrument throughout Adult Baby, adapting to fit a number of different moods and melodies from beginning to end. Large swathes of the album create an almost palpable Lynchian atmosphere of mystery and dread and awe. The music seems to deliberately resist giving the listener anything resembling a traditional “hook”, preferring to remain enigmatic, perhaps frustratingly so, depending on your personal preference, but for me I just accepted the mystery and let the music wash over me. I found tenderness and grace and a gentle kind of madness in Adult Baby, as well as a wonder and affection for the strange and unusual. 

Kazu performs a kind of miracle here, crafting a series of delicate, perfectly formed little worlds within this album, and with a little scrutiny one can see so many layers to deconstruct if one so chose. And a new and fascinating layer is the film Adult Baby: The Legend Of KAZU, directed by Eva Michon, and presented as a visual companion to Kazu's debut album. It is a striking work, filmed on the isle of Elba, and truly beautiful to behold in its own right.

Adult Baby is one of the most ethereal, challenging and sensitive albums I've encountered in a long while. The ocean is evoked again and again in this aural experience, crashing waves and an endless horizon of glittering diamonds before our eyes. While listening, it's easy to picture Kazu standing on the coast of Elba, staring out at that limitless sea and being overwhelmed by the inspiration that inspired this work, and when you listen to Adult Baby, you can share her gentle and splendid dream. 

What an otherworldly and captivating experience. 

(You can listen to our discussion that features Adult Baby and vote in the poll [until it closes on October 7th] by following this link. Cheers! -Dustin)