My Plastic JonBenet Doll

With a name like My Plastic JonBenet Doll, you know it has to be good.

In fact, My Plastic JonBenet Doll is made up of members from four other rather good bands: Aiko Nakajima of Veltpunch on vocals and bass, Tomomi Hirota of Overleaf on vocals and guitar, Seiji Himeno of Enmanova on guitar and backing vocals and Naoki Asama of Kiwiroll on drums. Perhaps it is this hodge-podge of members from other, moer active bands that makes MPJBD seem like a bit of a side-project right from the get-go.

Since their formation in 2004, the band has only released one mini-album, Yellow & Blue, and that was back in 2006. Obviously the members have a lot on their musical plates, so it's no surprise that work on My Plastic JonBenet Doll has fallen to the wayside. Nevertheless, their single release has plenty of shining moments to make it worth the effort.

With duel female lead vocals in full effect on most songs, they sound most like Toddle or some of Esrevnoc's harsher rock songs. They are a dreamy indie rock band at heart, with the bulk of Yellow & Blue featuring their high, fluttering duel harmonies floating over a wash of fuzzed out guitars and straightforward drumming. Their various musical backgrounds do show through from time to time though, most notably with the obvious single and opening song "YB." It's extremely catchy and peppy, and also the most like Esrevnoc's chirpy, sunny style. That's followed up with "U.S.O." a fast, almost punk tune, if not for the very pretty vocals. "Faint" is a plodding space pop jam that suddenly breaks into a psychedelic rock-out at the end. The album tosses in enough of these twists and turns to make for refreshing listening, if not anything revolutionary.

Will we ever see more from My Plastic JonBenet Doll? Probably not (their official website seems to have expired...) but hey, we've got all of their other "real" bands to keep up with, so any future releases will be a very welcome surprise.

YB



MySpace

Members:
Aiko Nakajima (Bass and Vocals)
Tomomi Hirota (Guitar and Vocals)
Seiji Himeno (Guitar)
Naoki Asama (Drums)

Releases:
Yellow & Blue 2006